Was nepotism playing a role in the nomination of the son of Biden in Ukraine ?
45
Fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear. What else does the modern Republican Party stand for?
463
Fierce!
28
The GOP is collectively aiding the enemy (Putin's money and both Trump's electoral and decisions) and spreading deceit with it oath-breaking endless Fox News lies. The GOP left the "oath of office" behind long ago. And their hand picked Supreme Justices will allow it, fomented by a primal, Rome driven hatred of women (the unspoken witch hunt by white men in robes).
234
Spineless cowards more interested in holding onto the levers of power than doing what’s in the best interest of the country will be the death of the promise of this once-great nation.
322
Republicans, At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
286
Who will pour in those Southern Country Clubs, if they vote for impeachment
46
Thank God that none of these present day republicans was asked to jump into the water at Omaha Beach.
385
Well said.
61
Unlike the NYT editorial Board folks outside the beltway echo chamber are waiting for facts to be released before they demand a "reckoning". After years of hacks like Adam Schiff claiming that evidence of "collusion" was in plain sight, after repeated accusations of treason made by former CIA director Brennan, after the epic failure of chief inquisitor Mueller to substantiate any of it, the public at large is witholding judgement.
The desperation of democrats and much of the media is becoming more apparent every day. Ignoring past precedent that demands a vote by the House to initiate it, we now have a kangaroo court masquerading as an "impeachment inquiry" led by the boy who can't stop crying wolf. In his first act, Adam Schiff read a phony transcript that could have been plagiarized from "Godfather" to a national news media. Nothing in it was accurate. Everything was slanderous. Yet, in the Orwellian world inhabited by the NYT Editorial Board and disgraced cable news outlets like CNN, they accuse president Trump of abandoning virtues like "decency, honesty, responsibility".
The day president Trump was inaugurated 60 democrat house members demanded he be impeached and claimed his election was illegitimate. Their strategy is clear. Congressman Al Green even let the cat out of the bag when he admitted "I'm concerned if we don't impeach this president, he will get re-elected". Those are the only honest words democrats have uttered.
58
What are they waiting for? Trump to step out on 5th Avenue and shoot somebody?
200
Don’t hold your breath. The Republicans would sooner establish a white Christian nationalist oligarchy than uphold their oaths to defend the Constitution.
343
“the integrity of the Republican Party”? That went down the sewer long ago
252
Recite the Pledge of Allegiance to yourself, listening to what it commits you (and all of us) to.
It is kind of like the Constitutional oath taken by our elected officials. isn't it? Allegiance to the Republic, and to One Nation, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All. (As I first learned it, ver. 1.0 before "under God" was added in 1954.)
How many times have you said those words, my fellow Americans? How many times did you mean them? Our sworn oath, whether Republican, Democrat, or whatever, is to the Republic, to Liberty, and to Justice for All. Not to FDR, Ike, JFK, Reagan, Obama, or Trump. Not to any one person or party.
Recite it now once more. One Nation with Liberty and Justice for All.
Remember, the official name for the Statue of Liberty is "Liberty Enlightening the World". Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
138
NYT, you're going to call for Trump's resignation...when, exactly? C'mon, don't be afraid.
72
The Republican Senators and Representatives do not Risk violating their oath to uphold the Constitution.
They are so far past that violation, burning our Capital in 100 story flames, that the Republicans rear view mirror shows only a dim flame as they rat out of town
52
rather than using the term autocrats the more appropriate term is psychopaths.
97
Republicans now officially in distress that Democrats are playing by Republicans rule book er ah em No Rule Book!!!
27
I’m sorry but the modern Republican Party seems to be on the wrong side of every major historical movement. Mitt Romney is triangulating for his own advantage. Just like he tried at the beginning of trump’s administration when his desperate prostration for the Secretary of State job played out in real time. At the time, most sentient beings knew what a dirtbag trump was, but Mitt wanted a slice of glory pie badly enough to humiliate himself at trump’s feet. The Republicans have done nothing to stop the hideous, Constituion-smashing, demagogue at the helm. The entire lot should be tossed, as should the editorial staff at the NYT for continually providing them cover(age). OVER IT
81
"Abandoned like a rotten sack of fruit?" Rotten Banana Republicans is what we're talking about here.
53
McCarthy, Nixon,
Iran Contra, WMD, Trump.....it’s what they do
178
Too bad that Susan collins is not Margaret Chase Smith.
165
It took 4 years for the Republican Party to turn on one of its own, Senator Joe McCarthy, and censure him and drive him to ignominy along with his mouthpiece, Roy Cohn.
Can the Republican Party continue to look with benevolence on President Donald Trump after he has flaunted the emoluments clause of our Constitution (Article 1, Section 9) by contracting with his own failing business, his Trump Doral National golf resort for the venue of the 2020 G7 Summit?
How much longer can this president and his enablers and sychophants protect him from impeachment and removal from the highest office in the world? How much longer can the Republican Party tolerate the unhinged behaviour of our 45th President?
110
You guy are always a day late and a dollar short with these "crisis" articles. Reuters reported yesterday that Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a businessman and former member of the Ukrainian parliament who knows the Burisma founder, said it had been Zlochevsky’s idea to appoint Biden as a director. “It was to protect (the company)” at a time when it was facing investigations, said Onyshchenko.Biden was also paif 83k per month, not 50k per month as originally reported. "According to payment records reviewed by Reuters that two former Ukrainian law enforcement officials say are Burisma’s, the company paid about $3.4 million to a company that was controlled by Archer called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC between April 2014 and November 2015.
Specifically, the records show 18 months in which two payments of $83,333 per month were paid to Rosemont Seneca Bohai for “consulting services.” The two sources said that one of those monthly payments was intended for Biden and one for Archer."
Trump had every right to ask about this, even if he was holding back that money.
And what about the whistleblower? Schiff was pounding every table he could that the whistleblower should testify before Congress. After it was revealed that the WB had previous contact with Schiff, suddenly Schiff is now doing everything he can to prevent the WB from testifying.
The crisis is with the Democrats, for supporting yet another coup to take down this President. And with it, Joe Biden is going down in flames too.
35
As I stated many times before in the comments section,Republicans Dont Care
72
The rich and the mighty are waging both a hot and a cold war against democracy, against justice applicable to them, against minorities and diversity and women's rights, against healthcare, against social security, against labor rights and protections and representation, against consumer protections, the environment and the climate, against regulation reigning in unfettered profit pursuit regardless the horrid costs and collateral of failing to reign it in (as to be beholden in for example the victims of gun violence), against fair competition and equal access and opportunity in free markets, against education, against affordable anything, against truth and transparancy and fairness and grooming an informed public, even against words carrying meaning.
It's quite the spectacle in a 'bolshoi' (Russian for great) theatre pretending otherwise, pretending to care, pretending to be moral or ethical or pious, pretending to be doing great, pretending to be a worthy, uncorrupted, dutiful judge or people's or State representative, or business higher up or banker, or maintainer of oversight, or member of the executive in public service, or whatever, pretending to be very 'cool,' very 'official,' very 'legal,' or very 'presidential.'
I believe it's called the vast right-wing conspiracy but that's an understatement. It's a vast fascist, kleptocratic oligarchic, radical and ruthless and immensely bigoted and hypocritical right-wing and implicit white supremacy conspiracy to say the least.
117
"...four years of public show trials and thought policing that pushed the country so hard to the right that the effects lasted decades."
I agree with the above statement.
But do you not see the equal danger from the hard left, with many prior years of "public show trial and thought policing?"
And even worse prospects for the future? From the new secular religions of climate change and immediate Green energy, to "woke" victim narratives, and extremes of political correctness on campuses and into the American mainstream?
One appalling recent example is "woke" LeBron James folding like a limp noodle in the face of Chinese totalitarianism for the sake of money. I suppose this may be the "intersectionality" of where the left and Trump meet.
So, be careful when you caution only the GOP. Remember that the bell also tolls for thee.
28
Please read:
“State Department Finds No ‘Deliberate Mishandling’ of Clinton Emails”
in this newspaper.
85
The Times has no standing to lecture the Republican Party. See you in November.
25
Brilliant editorial.
41
Preserve, protect and defend.......Donald Trump.
16
"sack of rotten fruit". Well done editorial board. haha
27
I fear if we keep brandishing our sword of Righteousness it is the Dems will be in crisis mode.The Right thing to do yes is to impeach Trump hut is it wise thing to do? If the way Trump cut and ran on the Kurds didn’t turn the Right stomach nothing will. Will the Senators who sat on their hands while Trump opened the door to the slaughter of our allies the Kurds really think Trump Ukraine actions matter? While the world is going to hell in a hand basket people have grown tired of hearing what a louse Trump is. Both parties should be in crisis mode Because we America is at dire waypoint in the history of our country.
16
You provide this long partial laundry list of Trump’s horrors:
“Thus far in office, Mr. Trump has acted against the national interest by maintaining...Trump’s personal benefit as its lodestar.“
You left something out that, I think, has damned him:
Separating hundreds, if not thousands, of children from their families, some permanently, and permanently damaging to every single child.
Even many conservatives have been disgusted by this horrid action.
104
Voters, will provide the reckoning when they re-elect Trump in 2020, and reject again the statist collectivist worldview of the N Y Times Editorial Board.
21
And Republicans have the unmitigated gall to cry out, "Benghazi!!!," at any and every opportunity. How pathetic!
105
We really do need to bring back those good old days of 75% black youth unemployment.
18
Amen!
6
Fish begins to rot from its' head. Impeach and remove.
41
It’s too late for the redemption of the Republican Party. Either the party will destruct or, if trump is re-elected, our republic will destruct.Their tacit acquiescence in his corrupt, and at times, criminal tenure in office, makes the party and its Graham’s, McConnell’s et al co-conspirators with the worst president in the history of the nation. Even we’re they to vote to remove him from office, that decision would result from their own self interest and not because they put country over party.
49
Why does the Republican party tolerate and support the worst president we have ever had? He was unfit for the job before he took it and he has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he is still unfit.
Our democracy is at risk as long as he is president. Our allies are also at risk as long as he is in office.
So why have the Republicans supported Trump? The Republican party is a slave to big money, whether oligarch money or corporate money. Now they have Citizens United which allows the GOP to take advantage of dark money from entities that proclaim that government is the problem, not the solution.
As long as we allow big money to take over our elections, we are in danger of losing our democracy, which is more eminent now than ever before. The Republicans will never change. They are addicted to this oligarch money. The only way to turn the tide is to vote them out and repeal Citizens United.
71
It didn't take soliciting a foreign country to dig up dirt on a political opponent, or multiple obstructions of justice, to crack the wall of Republican support.
It took betrayal of an ally in the hopeless Middle East quagmire.
It's terribly sad that betraying the trust of the American people is okay, but inept handling of one of America's endless military adventures is not.
Both are egregious acts, but why did only one crack the GOP's wall of support? (And at this point, it's still only a crack.)
45
The impeachment hearings might be the best thing to happen since they will prove that the DNC and FBI and CIA conspired against Sanders AND Trump, with each side having the right to call witnesses and perform cross-examinations.
The Dems have been a sad spectacle for years now.
They pretend to oppose him, yet they help him pass record war budgets, conspire with him to privatize social services, help him prosecute illegal wars on the world’s poor people, assist him in his assault on the basic rights of civilians , and help him transfer the public’s wealth to the 1%.
How about some humble introspection on your own misdeeds before trying to clean up someone else's house?
The only reason why we have Trump is Hillary and the DNC cheaters and oligarchs who pushed her down the country’s throat.
Democrats, instead of learning from their own epic embarrassment and failure in losing to Trump blamed the Trump victory on Russia and spent 3 years pushing Trump from the right wing, pushing the world into another Cold War based on lies and propaganda. Now they're cheerleading for endless war.
The failure to face the reality of why Trump REALLY won last time, which we still haven’t done, will almost guarantee his reelection.
Dems need to think about what unites not what divides.
Beating Trump now through dirty fighting will only result in a reactionary whiplash at the ballot box.
The best way to win is by having a great message, policy and following through.
Forget about the Republicans
26
Obviously, in almost 70 years the Republicans haven't learned a thing, other than to follow Trump like lemmings right over the cliff. History won't be kind, and their inability to break away from whatever Svengali hold Trump has on them will not be forgotten for a long, long time. They simply don't deserve the support of any American.
63
For Trump supporters who are patriots there is no victory short term, or any other way. We are on the brink of losing our country, our moral center, our way of life--the very soul of this once United States. This was all avoidable. As citizens we have a duty now to fight for our Constitution, or die.
28
This is classic journalistic and public relations "bridge and spin." The GOP is just fine: Trump and Pence will run in 2020 and they will win. Why? Because it is the Democratic Party that is in utter disarray: not one electable candidate, who all track too far left. Except one: Gabbard. And because she is so mature and a natural leader, HRC (another Party liability) comes crawling out of the cracks to try and discredit her as a "Russian asset" (and thereby completely expose and ratify the origin of the "Russia Interference" political program that the Clinton party crafted and disseminated). The DNC is a trainwreck, and the convention is going to be a clown show--with one or more spoilers waiting in the wings--or crawling out of the cracks again.
25
The biggest mistake Dems are making right now is planning on running against DJT. In fact, they should be planning on running against either forward thinking Republicans like Romney or Kasich. Both of them know that they can and would beat Eliz Warren. The Rep establishment can’t be too far behind them; in fact, I’m sure they’re way ahead.
Imagine, just for a moment, some newly freed/escaped terrorist from North Syria pulls off an attack on the homeland: McConnells WAPO op/ed is validated, Trump is toast.
The impeachment process is barely 3 weeks on, and DJTs own State Department is lining up to testify against him. The dominos are falling. Romney and Kasich are not stupid (neither are Republicans writ-large) they know this is they’re time; their outsized political ambition will get the best of them.
5
One un-examined note that rings in my ears when Republicans suggest Trump is wrong, but not impeachable is, What will Republicans do in future if a Democratic president does what Trump does.
Will Republicans allow a Democrat the levels of criminal activity, self-dealing, incompetence and sheer boorishness that we see daily with Donald Trump?
Unimaginable.
37
Well said. Mr. Trump must go. The Senate Republicans must put country before supporting a man who is laying waste to America.
16
So long as the economy is doing just fine, the GOP and Trumpsters will thrive at the hands of our democracy. The ignorant masses will write it off as just political in-fighting between two parties and continue with business as usual. As with almost anything in America, it is in the Benjamins baby! This is sad but true and will not change until wall street goes down! Then too the masses will quickly forget and return back to our ignorant ways.
4
These attempts to enlist foreign interference in American electoral democracy are an assault not only on our system of government but also on the integrity of the Republican Party.
Integrity of the Republican party is an oxymoron.
16
The Roman Republic followed a similar path to dictatorship (Empire) and ruin. What took centuries then will come about in decades now. Perhaps our schools should start teaching Chinese now so our children will be prepared.
17
A party led by a mediocre real estate developer who became a game show host in order to revitalize his businesses. Does anything else really need to be said about the state of the GOP and the wildly distorted thinking of it’s propaganda loving voters?
45
For the first time in my sixty plus years, I am worried for America; like this might all turn out alright. Margret Chase Smith’s time was one of morning and evening newsprint and television with three channels. Today any slice of the electorate can watch only news they agree with, and not get a true overview of what’s really happening. I turned on Fox News the morning after the Mulvaney press conference and their primary coverage was the Trump rally in Dallas. Fair perhaps, but definitely unbalanced. Credit to Roger Ailes for having the vision to market to angry old white guys, but they and others see the world only through the prism of Fox. MSNBC is nearly as guilty, but at least they lean more on facts rather than complete liberal fancy. It’s all about market share. So I don’t know if everyone will notice a ‘have you no decency sir’ moment, nor am I confident that it will carry the weight necessary to make said electorate stand up and take notice. History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, but it often rhymes. We can only hope the rhyme is heard.
20
Thanks to Trump's complete lack of self-awareness and total embrace of, well, himself and his self-interest, Republicans can no longer mention Hunter Biden without choking on Doral.
Well done Mr President. Well done.
36
Your title should have been The Crisis of Our Country. The continued genuflection of 35% of the electorate to Trump is a disgrace, it’s shameful. But the flat all body head down prostration of Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell during the past 1,000 days is even more humiliating. Money has become your “God We Trust”.
“Republicans once saw as foundational virtues: decency, honesty, responsibility. He has asked them to substitute loyalty to him for their patriotism itself.” “The Constitution’s framers envisioned America’s political leaders as bound by a devotion to country above all else. That’s why all elected officials take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. By protecting Donald Trump at all costs from all consequences, the Republicans risk violating that sacred oath.”
You must come to terms that almost half of your country supports your President – not just Republicans. And nearly ALL leaders of the Republican Party are Trump’s servants.
Let that sink for a moment.
The last minute sticking their chest out is laughable.
14
What don't understand is this: If the majority of currently elected Republicans simply came out and said "you the people of our Republican party, have elected us to protect your best interests and in your best interests we have concluded this president is a clear and present danger to our country. We have sworn our loyalty to the Constitution of the United States and in all good conscious we can no longer stand behind this president."
There is safety in numbers and by the Republicans not speaking out, they are telling their base this man is okay. They are bowing to their base and not protecting them. This is a chicken or the egg situation. I believe their base (the eggs) would listen to them (the chickens)if there were enough speaking out.
16
Wishful thinking. They will back Trump for a second term without question.
19
when will the media focus on:
How are Trump's actions in Ukraine connected to his quest for Russian sanction relief?
Why are so many indicted and unindicted Russian oligarchs and their American and European bagman are connected to Trump and the GOP?
And why does Trump consistently take actions that benefit Russia and harms America and its allies?
Counter intelligence investigations of persons in the U.S. government are going on right now. They include Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
And it is a safe bet that Russia is at the heart of those investigations.
The GOP can either rise and continue to exist, or stay on their knees and disappear.
22
After we have gotten rid of Trump and his enablers, let's take a close look at the Republican Senators. I believe they are all compromised by Russia and are in deep debt to Putin.
How do you suppose they were elected? Why have they been silent through all this scandal? Why are they going to vote against impeachment (their ringleader McConnell has much to do with this)?
33
I think it is time for the NYT's editorial board to admit the hard truth. The Republican party is beyond redemption. The only cure is to vote them ALL our in 2020 with trials to follow. Pretending they will come around to the idea that Trump needs to be impeached is fanciful thinking. The rot proceeds the election of Donald Trump and will continue until they're thrown out of power.
28
The near disappearance of intellectual heft for conservative policies, in America and elsewhere, points to the problem. Around the world, although nowhere so blatantly as the U.S. under Trump, conservatism has abandoned honesty, fair play and honor. The right has admitted they cannot make their case on its merits. They must resort to crass populism, tribalism, gerrymandering, voter suppression and endless lies. George W. Bush, rich frat boy slacker cum American president, once marveled aloud at the simplicity of Republican governance - they cut taxes until deficits soar and programs suffer, then Democrats eventually win and raise taxes to stave of disaster, allowing Republicans to run again on tax cuts.
Trump's real contribution to the downward spiral of Republican dishonor has been to prove that overt shamelessness carries no political price. The right has had so much success at harnessing grievance to woo left side of the Bell Curve voters that Trump can lie, cheat and steal with impunity because those actions upset "elites" and that gratifies the aggrieved, spite-fueled base.
33
The Republicans let themselves be hijacked by the NRA, White Nationalists, Evangelicals (and their campaign against American women), Russia, Oil (which started under Reagan). They could have said no and let these groups form their own parties, respectively. The way people formed a Green Party and Libertarian Party because they didn't fit into the two-party system.
At the core, the Republicans believe it what Trump is spinning. It is sad, but true. They are raising hundreds of millions of dollars for him. If they wanted him out, it would be as easy as a collective Republican news conference and stopping the flow of money.
19
Nothing bothers Republicans. Only two things can make any change, either a major catastrophic wave of anti Trump philosophy or Trumps demise.
11
Reading all these comments I feel like I'm back in the 70s and 80s listening to media propaganda. Get a grip of yourselves people, you've created the monster and have fed him from his first day in office. One thing we've learned here is that hoover's FBI and tactics never died and have themselves a worthy opponent. Seems like most here are trying to recreate rules after the rules have been broken already. What amazes me the most in all of this, is how this man Trump was vilified and said to cause ww3 if elected but the narrative has now changed into yes we should continue being the world's policeman and continue sacrificing young American lives to feed the military complex. The hypocrisy in the comments from all the soul searchers is dumbfounding. America has been at war for over 200 years and trump has refused to make it part of his legacy yet he's continuously vilified because some oversensitive people dont like his counterattacks and rather see young American soldiers die in some foreign war or they'll praise some car salesman president like Obama that sold out the US to china at every turn, started 9 wars and the current migration crisis in the middle east.
You guys really talking about conscience or hate?
10
“...the Republicans risk violating that sacred oath.”
Risk? They violated it when they made their goal, arguably two decades ago, the delegitimizing not only of their opposition but the very idea of democracy in the pursuit of permanent one-party rule. Political scientists have written of the Republicans’ long march towards fascism but the editorial board of the Times finds this particular truth too disturbing to speak. Which is, in a different meaning of the word, unspeakable. Now that Republicans have made it nearly impossible to tell the truth about them, there’s nothing at which they can’t succeed.
11
Isn’t his approval rating among republican voters something like 82%? Is it 51% of independents who approve of him?
I doubt they are going to throw him overboard. He is the person republican voters overwhelmingly elected and still support.
Democrats loved Obama and republicans thought he was the anti-Christ.
13
Many of my fellow Mainers have tried and failed to convince our Senator Susan Collins to live up to the high standard our her professed idol Margaret Chase Smith. She claims now, after near three years of avoidance of the Trump issues, that she can't now comment on the actions of Trump because she will be a juror in his likely Senate trial. But there is no Senate rule that stipulates silence on the part of a Senator who 'may' eventually be a juror in a sitting presidents impeachment trial.
The Republican party of my father and my grandfather isn't even a shadow of it's former self. My grandfather wrote in glowing terms of his respect and admiration of Teddy Roosevelt, of his courage and accomplishments. I can't imagine of my forefathers proudly exclaiming the virtues of the present sorry excuse of a POTUS occupying the White House.
Trump has gone from an embarrassment to a clear and present danger to the USA and western democracy itself. And if Republicans don't stand up and speak out against this ignorant bloviating coward of a president, we must vote them out. And that means you Senator Collins.
34
We are past talk and it is time for action. Should that sentence be followed by a period, an exclamation point or a question mark?
6
The Republican Party, once a legitimate party based on sound ideals of economic policy and personal freedom, is now an illegitimate party championed by racists and end-timers.
All you have to do is pay attention to the comments made by Barr and Pompeo when they speak to groups of followers. They want a theocracy badly and Trump is just setting up the game board for this to happen.
23
The most dangerous world view is that of those who have never viewed the world. Alexander von Humboldt.
15
Conservative columnist David Brooks said it best. The republicans have sold their souls to the devil, and the dvil will never stop asking them for more.
27
I think we all appreciate the gravity of the situation, but how could the editorial board print this current definition of "Oxymoronic"with a straight face?:
"the integrity of the Republican Party"
13
If the GOP sticks with Trump they will win in 2020. If they push him away, the party is done. For better or worse, Trump is the GOP and the GOP is Trump. Regardless of what the Dems think, the GOP rank and file love Trump and vote him. They vote him as corrupt, but no worse than any other politician (see the Biden's) and an annihilator of a broken political system that doesn't care about them. Trump supporters are, for the most part, not naive. They get what, and who, he is. But at least they feel less devalued by Trump than the liberal's identity politics based philosophy. There are many Americans sick of politicians espousing phony political correctness, championing an end to the concept of biological gender, and turning everyone into helpless victims, except, of course, evil white men. They need to be taxed to death for the sins of America, and then thrown in the trash heap. I completely get this. I felt neglected by both parties. Trump won me over. I am not alone.
8
All presidents want loyalty. Why wouldn't they? The difference between this and other presidents is that he wants fealty. He wants his loyal subjects to kiss the ring and bend the knee. Anything less is an insult to the king.
11
Elected Republicans will naturally be swayed by the sentiment of those 'back home' who can elect or defeat them. By that marker, it's difficult to project the future. Appealing to ethics and morality in our country right now? Russian roulette.
Trump's ability to suck the heart and soul of others is unfathomable. I just hope he's left enough in Republicans to turn a Senate vote against him. I'm skeptical - but have to be hopeful.
8
One of the most intelligent summaries of the Trump "presidency" I have ever read.
Stunning to me that any Republican could read this and then go on Fox News, I mean State TV, and defend this abomination of a "president"
19
don't underestimate the current Republican Party's lust for keeping power. Billionaire backers have too much at risk. 2020 is going to be a freak show
8
I would hardly call the Democratic Party the party of integrity and morality!
11
Has Lindsey Graham uttered a word since the Pence and Pompeo went, hat in hand, to Sultan Erdogan in Istanbul to get a temporary end to hostilities against the Kurds? Not that I’ve heard or read, in any case.
12
Cult of personality.
The famed 18th century British politician Edmund Burke was one of the founders of the modern political party. His idea was to create an association of like minded individuals whose affiliation was built upon a cluster of commonly shared governing principles which was not dependent on one individual or a small cadre, but rather on the stated precepts that they adhered to. Thus their “party” would thrive, not based on any individual luminary, but nourished by the foundation principles of their political beliefs.
One of his main objectives in this was to move away from the dominating political organizing convention of the time which was a charismatic leader with supporters and adherents building political power for him. This cult of personality principle was to Burke antithetical to a thriving democracy.
The Republican Party is in serious danger of swallowing itself whole in it’s death spiral of moving literally from a party of principles, many of which I have supported for decades, to the dustbin of history on the back of a mentally disturbed megalomaniac running the party right out of an “authoritarian” playbook based on his own cult of personality.
The only salvation for them now is to remove him from office and from that foundation rebuild the principals they have lost. The only alternative frankly is that in 10 years they will be gone or a shadow of their former prominence.
Demographics and history are not on their side unless they act now!
17
That Trump won is as much the fault of Hillary Clinton and the DNC that promised to get her elected as anyone and anything in the country.
9
Of the Republican graybeards who have, as you say, debased themselves, my personal fav has got to be Mitt Romney at Trump Tower, hat in hand. They’ve humiliated themselves, and should be driven from the polis.
11
Interesting that only Republicans seemed to be labeled as partisans. Yawn.
7
Once RBG is no longer able to serve as a Justice, the GOP will long forget the current issues since they will coral around President Trump faster than a z New York minute....
10
Turnabout being fair play, then why not: Lock him up! Lock him up!
13
“The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.” - P. J. O'Rourke
23
Seems all the assaults on democracy emanate from the Republican Party. When have the Dems ever threatened to burn it down? Never. The Republican Party is a projected personality disorder - never seeing fault within, projecting blame on "diabolical" forces, lashing out at imagined enemies, siding with strongmen who are like them (bullyarchy), happily breaking norms/rules/laws, using raw power to get what they want, etc... They the Narcissistic Personality Disorder Party. Trump is it, unmasked.
15
Not ONE Republican senator believes Trump should be impeached. Let's list his transgressions:
1. Multiple accusations of sexual assault and one accusation of rape.
2. Hush money to hide affairs with porn stars
3. Multiple incidents of obstruction of investigations.
4. Brazen disregard of the emoluments law to line his and his family's pockets.
5. Using foreign countries to further his own interests and reelection campaign.
And those are only the things we have proof of. There is the hate,division he has sowed. Racism and violence he has encouraged. Kids he has traumatically separated from their parents at the border. Damage he has done to the environment. I could go on... Republicans have lost their courage and moral compass.
23
It's done! Every time Republicans allow Trump to circumvent the rule of law and the constitution they prove themselves as traitors to the constitution. They aren't stupid. They know what they're doing and it's done already! The moment of reckoning the NYTs editorial board hopes for has come and gone, and it didn't end in favor of honor, duty and upholding their vow to protect the constitution. Just the opposite.
Why do we keep expecting Republicans to "wake up" and do the right thing? You all know the saying, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them". Well.......
16
Watch a rally, and it is apparent that Trump is the recipient of loyalty from a chanting, unthinking cult. Add those lemmings to the single issue voters (NRA members, all abortion is murder, white nationalists, etc), and despite all the dumb decisions and dangerous mistakes, Trump will be a political force in the next election.
Republicans don’t care about right or wrong. They are afraid of the bully, and care only about maintaining their jobs. It’s a sad day for America.
20
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.
It's chaos until then...
6
The Republicans are traitors and the Party is over. They need to reinvent themselves for the sake of the country. Lincoln is looking at them in shame
10
Speaking of fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear, Hillary Clinton is getting down in the mud with sander and corruption this week and her party will lose big time if she does not stop raving.
This week she claimed that Jill Stein and Telsi Gabbard are "russian assets." This was in a podcast and the quote is: :"They are also going to do third party again," . "I'm not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," (Clinton said, referring to Gabbard), without mentioning the Hawaii representative by name.)
"She is a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. That's assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset." And more. That is some of the worst sewer and corruption work I've seen in years! Unbelievable. The Dems will put Trump back in the white house with those lies.
Search for Hillary and David Plouffe. It was a interview with him. He wasPresident Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008.
9
The Treaty With Ukraine on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It requires the United States and Ukraine to assist each other in the conduct of criminal investigations.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating alleged Ukrainian interference in the U.S. 2016 election. In March 2019, Ukraine Prosecutor General Lutsenko opened two investigations — one into the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a second into Burisma and Hunter Biden.
In his July 25, 2019 phone call President Trump asked Ukrainian President Zelensky, as a “favor, to assist the U.S. Justice Department in its investigation and continue Lutsenko’s investigation of Burisma and Biden. Zelensky really agreed. During a press conference after the phone call, Zelensky said, “There was no pressure or blackmail from the U.S.” He also said he was unaware that the United States ever considered withholding military aid.
The House may impeach Trump on grounds he abused his power by asking Ukrainian to comply with its treaty obligations or by asking Zelensky to continue investigations already begun by the Ukrainian prosecutor general, but there is no chance the Senate will convict.
5
Remembering the Republican representatives of New England in years past... Susan Collins is no Margaret Chase Smith.
9
“[Trump] has given comfort to white nationalists,” according to the NYT Editorial Board. Let’s be more accurate. The Republican Party, including Trump, are white nationalists.
12
Truly, we live in Mulvanian Times...
6
Let’s tell him that he is fired!
9
The GOP mentality of winning at all costs has eroded and diseased our political system. Vote them all out. Every single one.
14
Perhaps the Editorial Board of the New York Times should look again at that map of the US showing a sea of red depicting districts won by Trump in 2016. Republican lawmakers will bare in mind that their constituents still support Trump and recognize these never-ending witch-hunts the Democrats have launched against Trump since Day 1. Two years of an exhaustive Investigation into Russian “collusion” found no such thing. (And hopefully the shady origins of this sham investigation will be fully exposed soon enough.) Now it’s no longer about Russia but all about Ukraine. Nobody on the left cares that Biden is seen on video admitting to a quid pro quote to give Ukraine $1 billion to get rid of a prosecutor who had had Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian gas company in his crosshairs. “There’s no evidence to support...”
is the catch phrase used by the mainstream media to give Biden a pass. On the flipside, we had two years of the mainstream media lying to Americans that there was overwhelming evidence that Trump colluded with Russia. The bottom line is the nonstop harassment of Trump by Democrats has so many Trump supporters even more fervently supporting him… and the fact is Republican lawmakers In Washington are there to represent the people who elected them, and not kowtow to pressure from the Trump-hating Democrats and the mainstream media. The fever pitch to remove Trump from office will only grow as those pushing for it realize a 2020 landslide is coming, largely thanks to them.
9
"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it." Thomas Paine
14
The subheading should be....The Editorial Board of the New York Times will not be able to postpone its stand on the impeachment and removal from office of President Donald Trump. Actually, it is WAY PAST TIME for the board to do so. It should be in bold print on the front page of the newspaper. What is the editorial board waiting for?
2
There are no more republicans.
5
Sad to see the GOP lost their spine or maybe they never had one, but you can believe if this was a Democrat party he would have been impeach months ago and we would have kind of investigations, but not with these worthless Republicans and even the Democrats and them more worried about getting re-elected then doing the right thing.
Time to get rid of both republican and democrat we had enough FAILURE AND GREED from them
3
when does the ny times consider the evidence against the president to be such that it calls for his resignation?
3
"Republicans need to emulate the moral clarity of Margaret Chase Smith and recognize that they have a particular responsibility to condemn the president’s behavior and to reject his tactics."
Ho hum. Yawn. Yawn.
When are you going to get a backbone, Editorial Board, and demand his removal from office?
1
Donald, friend of ducklings, Trump is a Halloween nightmare every day of the year.
5
Early on in my managerial career, I found myself in one of those mini-profiles in courage moments. I called a mentor, laid out the issue, and said, this decision, although the right decision, could end my career. His response: "son, better to get fired for doing something, instead of doing nothing." That was the best advice I received in over 40 years of managing and one which the Republicans should pay attention to.
1632
This article provides some hope that the GOP is bending to the curve in the road revealed by the Ukraine and Syrian situations.
“Surely, we Republicans aren’t that desperate for victory.” Surely they won’t cement into our political history on affirmation of foreign interference in our elections. This silence, and current support for Trump, has shown an about face of hawkish values, and a disregard for our Constitution.
Someone needs to grab the wheel.
And it’s up to the Republicans in Congress to do that.
7
The Democrats have a unwitting need to tell versus share their mostly unfounded stories with the American public. My knowledge and hopes for the democratic process to work as the founders intended is almost ignored because the press is publishing rumors and threads of what should be based on real evidence and verifiable facts subjected to an editorial review. I think of the Woodward and Bernstein reporting that was subjected to high levels of verification prior to publishing in the paper. I recently subscribed to the NYT after canceling the Washington Post. The post acted almost as bad as the UK sensational rags. I rarely read anything that had any balance.
I live in a small mostly democratic town. People have been talking about how they never thought they would vote for Trump, because they no longer determine what is fact versus fiction. Several have stopped watching the late night talk shows and Saturday night live.
As a 65 I grew up respecting politicians, even if I don’t agree with them. The nation has become like a nursery school playground, and at every corner is a bully. Everyone usually hates a bully, and being bullied. Let’s try to clean up this political mess and bringing back some class to our government.
10
The Republican electorate receives it's view of the world from Fox. They thrive on a narrative of manufactured consent and avoidance from the news division and outright propaganda from the opinion division. How can we rely on this side of the electorate to vote appropriately?
12
If you want to see Republicans turning away from Trump, don't count on their moral fiber. You can count those on the fingers of one hand. The vast, vast majority of Republican flunkies including in the Senate are certainly enslaved to Trump, but telling them they can walk away means nothing compared to organizing millions of people in mass and individual forms of protest against the cruelest most self-serving President in US history. Then you'll see Republicans in office running for the exit doors. To that end. the Democratic Party has its own reckoning. Where are they in helping to build mass protests against abandoning the Kurds, indefinite imprisonment of undocumented children, open theft of taxpayer money-and the list goes on.
9
The McCarthyism you mention was step one in the building of the current Republican base; race became the biggie in the 1960s. The Party has been recruiting low end voters for decades. Republicans trying to hold onto their jobs cannot cross the base who strongly support Trump. Here's my prediction: Some Republicans will begin finding their loyalty to the country after the filing deadlines in their states. Those with primary opposition will start after their primaries. A few brave--or maybe secure ones--have already abandoned Trump, and some never will. As Mr. Eller noted, we have not seen much other than opportunism from the Republican Party for some time. I'm not expecting much now.
12
It is hard to believe the Republican Party has been around since before Lincoln. Their demise should come with the impeachment of Donald Trump, because they have lost all principle and only support the maintenance of their own power.
9
Decency, honesty, and responsibility are human virtues, and grifters like Trump and his loyalists hope to fleece our treasury. Americans should embrace the virtues Margaret Chase Smith desired and the contempt of corporate and colonial control of people FDR despised. Republicans, led by Nixon and Dulles, unfurled their disdain for the Atlantic Charter when the Eisenhower administration orchestrated coups in Iran and Guatemala to overthrow democratically elected governments whose people believed their natural resources were a public treasure not a private trophy for British Petroleum and the United Fruit Company. Eisenhower sealed the Republican disdain for American sacrifice the decade before in Europe and Asia when he said the Vietnamese didn’t have the right to hold national elections in 1956 stipulated in the French surrender, sealing our fate in the American War in Vietnam when the Vietnamese patriots who defeated the French and gained independence had to fight again to unify all three Vietnamese provinces.
Trump isn’t an aberration, he’s a symptom of radicals openly contemptuous of democracy as seen with their voter suppression, gerrymandering, and voter ID laws all over the country. American must stand up to the cabal that wants to hand government over to oligarchs who only change attire from one generation to another in their goal to fleece our national treasury and silence Americans.
14
The practice of reason can be difficult. You will often face conflict between what you want to believe and truth, between what satisfies yourself and your immediate family or other group and what is best for the whole. The practice of reason by definition is agnostic. It does not discern between faith or party affiliation. Reason tends to lead to inherent truth that, once determined, becomes a measuring stick to compare options.
If a Senate trial is inevitable, I believe the expectation of our nation's founders is that reason should prevail. Is that not how this most solemn institutional duty should proceed? Idealistic as it seems, I believe this is what our Constitution demands an our Nation deserves.
If Republicans, Democrats, or both choose to make a circus of the upcoming trial and reason is discarded as the measuring stick, then our nation will have cut itself loose from it's collective better self and we will be adrift, the paddle of reason fading in the distance on the abandoned shore.
5
What does the GOP know that the rest of us don't? They act like there will never again be another Democratic President.
7
As a Texas Republican, I have sent several letters to our lone, ethical United States Senator, John Cornyn, urging him to move forward and defend the Republic's Rule of Law.
Anyone who thinks that a second term Trump will be bridled is clearly hoping against all odds. Without doubt, a second term Trump will unleash the greatest threat to our country and the world, within our lifetimes.
I urge all Republican readers to contact their elected Republican Senators and Representatives and give them support for impeachment.
19
The Editorial Board tells us:
"Mr. Trump still feels so well-protected by his party that he has just named his own golf resort as the site for the next Group of 7 summit in 2020, a brazen act of self-dealing"
While Trumps action is disgusting, it is probably legal.
On the other hand, the Editorial Board, gives us not a peep of concern, about Hunter Biden bag-manning $50,000 a month in the "axis of corruption" known as Ukraine.
Apparently, the New York Times Editorial Board, is a 100% "See No Evil" operation when it comes to Democrats. If they applied the same level of reprobation to Democrats, that they apply to Republicans, our nation would be aided immensely.
Note:
I am a registered Democrat, and plan on voting for Biden in the primary, becasue I think the has the beat chance of beating Trump.
Corruption is the norm in American Politics because we have all been trained to accept it. That needs to change, and the place where that change begins, should be our press.
12
In listening to the GOP's statements about the "president," I am beginning to think that Trump's downfall will be Syria, not Ukraine or emolument violations. Syria seems to have been the only recent thing that Republicans have criticized him for with some mild chastizement thrown in about the selection of Doral for the G7.
4
‘Senator Smith’s question once again hangs over the Republican Party: Surely they are not so desperate for short-term victory as to tolerate this behavior? We’ll soon find out.’
I assume this is a rhetorical question. The Republicans have forsaken everything they supposedly support for lower taxes and some judges. Free trade, small govt, deficits, allies, etc have all been sacrificed on their altar. What is there left to find out?
8
I feel that continuing to use the term "conservative" to describe contemporary Republican ideology is a fallacy of equivalence. An agenda that seeks to re-establish past norms, like apartheid, and carrying guns around town, is reactionary. Eisenhower was a conservative, but contemporary Republicans have drifted into Reactionary Nationalism.
11
@Doug: Trumpism is revanchism: pining for a golden age that never was. It is not about conservation.
7
The newly presented 'psychology of accommodation' does explain why Trump supporters and the GOP keep supporting Trump regardless of the total abandonment of decency and responsibility while weakening the national security and deligitimizing democracy in concerted effort with Putin!
The theory explains that by defending Trump the Republicans in fact defend themselves.
I would add that this 'psychology of accommodation' is working in tandem with 'normalcy bias', meaning that maintaining support for Trump has become a coordinated reflex and all arguments favorable to impeachment and removal are brushed aside as if they do not matter, or have no merit at all, don't even bother...
The danger is that the democratic system is therefore sabotaged by a complete inability - not just obstruction - to process information. Congress is rendered ineffective.
It follows that a vast majority of Republicans have morphed into robotic sycophants, bereft of faculties such as critical thinking. The inherent danger is that Trump could push his dictatorial tendencies and - as he intimated - the country could be pushed on the path to civil war.
7
We are living in a world where political fantasies are encouraged and manipulated at every level. The capacity for clear thought based on "normal" parameters of clear thinking has been severely eroded.
Mulvaney is just this week's absurdist expression of the fact that people with enormous power and even greater responsibility have become so seduced by their fantastic imaginings of personal status and invulnerability that they feel completely unencumbered to: 1) enunciate them publicly with a straight face and, when called to accounts by an incredulous media, 2) compound the original insanity by repetition combined with cheap insults (Get over it?).
Even Trump's unflagging allies are beginning to suspect that this assault on reality must soon end badly. What today consists of single individuals headed for the exit will soon become a flood as the masses arise from their previous place of comfort to leave a burning theater.
Legions have sold their consciences and souls when it comes to Trump but, at a certain point, the gag reflex and related survival instincts begin to kick in. We are fast approaching that wondrous point of transformation. No one should mistake the onset of a head throbbing hangover for a miracle, however. Indeed, this is time for (more) serious reflection and (less) enthusiastic joy. And that requires an end to the fantasies and diligent, sober thought.
That will be a sea change. A sea change in thought inspired by the man who denied sea changes.
8
Which party is in crisis?
Which party is now in the position of having to attempt to cook up some fake charges to try and remove a President that is clearly going to crush them in the next election?
Which party is about to be exposed for the corruption of the 2016 election and their failed coup, just in time for the next election?
Which party has lost their hand picked candidate due to his obvious corruption?
Which party has lost their minds due to TDS?
Wouldn’t want to be a Democrat over the next few months, although the impact on the psychiatry industry might just lift our national growth rate a couple points.
8
Very true. But, I am not holding my breath as they are, the Republicans are far too attached to their seats.
1
With the abandonment of the Kurds, Trump has blood on his hands. That should be an article of impeachment. Then, we can see whether 20 Republican Senators can find some courage.
12
as the republicans have too much patience and too many excuses for their man in the oval office the citizens have too much patience and too many excuses for the gop and its repeated failure to hold the president accountable for his actions and words
7
The best term to use for the GOP is rotten to the core. Lock them up they are the party for the rich and the rest of us suffer when they are in charge. They love wars but we need to start the draft up and force their kids to fight when they start the wars. No more hiding in college.
5
The enablers of Trump have gotten to this crisis point. For nearly three years Trump has lived the charmed life off total support for whatever he did. Denouncing allies and breaking almost every deal the Obama administration made brought total acceptance from the Right. It is no wonder why going into his third year Trump feels he is a King and not a President .Trumps total dominance was shown when in the midst of it all Trump announced he was having the G7 at one of his failing properties. The same Trump who wants to build a wall was still employing undocumented on his properties.The Right has appeased Trump for so long that it hasn’t a spine left to hold him accountable . Senator Graham who once denounced Trump has become Trumps lackey defensive lineman. The Rights willingness to put their employment over country is coming back to bite them.I doubt if they have the courage to put the genie,Trump, back in his bottle.
6
Trump will be even more dangerous out of office. Fox News, or something worse, will give him a prime time slot to foment terror while Pence, or another outwardly non-threatening person, gathers the votes and implements the policies.
Let's not forget that a substantial portion of the citizenry (if that's the correct word) applauds everything Trump does. They compartmentalize the things they don't like, such as the Kurds, and adopt his rationales, the flimsier the better for easy comprehension and the thrill of collective audacity.
You think our problems will go away when Trump goes away? Check your state's 2016 results, go drive around the nearest Trump district and then reflect on what you see.
7
The republican party is all about retaining power at all costs, it is not about governing. It is cynical, it courts and espouses whatever will sustain itself. It is beholden to big money and every four years it trucks out all the boiler plate bromides in an effort to appear palatable to the people who have no business or future in voting Republican. Understand this, when the circling the wagons around Trump appears to be a losing cause and threatens Republican seats they will drop him like a hot potato.
4
The Republicans and their right wing media team have spent decades showering their base with nonsensical propaganda in order to win elections. From Roger Ailes helping Richard Nixon to Lee Atwater helping GHW Bush to Trump, winning the election at hand mattered more than helping the country. Now, the rabid GOP base is fully committed to Trump and GOP elected officials know that speaking out will put them in peril.
Trump is, either intentionally or unintentionally, trying to destroy the government. He always takes things too far. Republicans have said for years that they wanted to get the government small enough to drown in a bathtub. Trump isn’t waiting to get it into a bathtub to destroy it.
If the Republicans allow Trump to get away with what he is doing, I do not know if our democracy can recover. They will have to stand up to the base they created.
7
"...the Republicans risk violating that sacred oath." All too many of them have already shredded that oath.
Given Trump's behavior since his inauguration, it seems unlikely that he understood his oath of office, or, if he did understand it, simply dismissed it as not applicable to him. He has violated it in too many ways to list here. A constant stream of lies, obstruction of justice, conflicts of interest, and hiring incompetent toadies are a few of those violations.
Mitch McConnell's vow to quash any Democratic bill sent to the Senate, and his actions in actually doing so, are a serious violation of his oath of Office.
William Barr's blatant defense of Trump's unethical (at the very least) activities is a violation of his oath of office.
Mike Pompeo's assistance to Trump in his attempt to gain assistance from a foreign power to investigate political opponents is a violation of is oath of office.
Senators and Representatives who remain silent, or actively support Trump, are also violating their oath of office.
I don't believe that Rudy Giuliani actually took an oath of office, but his unethical -- and probably illegal -- activities in support of Donald Trump are strong evidence that he cares little about defending the Constitution. For that, I'm going to add him to the list.
5
It is almost as if the Republicans believe that a democrat will never again occupy the White House or control the Senate. If they refuse to take a principled stand today in face of clear corruption, how do they expect the rest of us to ever respect their arguments regarding presidential behavior in the future? Do they not understand that we have videos of them defending the indefensible?
11
This is a editorial that will not play among Republicans because it comes not from Fox News but from the NY Times. It's clear that the Republican party has, for the first time in history, bought into the cult of personality thereby allowing itself to ignore the foundational premise of our constitution: We are a country of laws and not men. Our loyalty is to a constitutional republic and not a King. I'm afraid that they do not appreciate the consequences of their silence. I, for one, am confused at why they fail to speak out. Is it a lack of courage or is it something more nefarious? Imagine if Obama had been elected by an electoral college with a minority of the votes with Russian help and then doubled-down by asking Ukraine to give him a hand on his reelection efforts while dangling desperately needed foreign aid. Republicans think this is OK? Pray for America.
6
Don't count on Republicans to suddenly put country first. I can't possibly explain the spinelessness of the GOP, but I can predict they will not change. They have painted themselves into a corner. To suddenly admit Trump must go is self-destructive in the republican politician mind.
3
All things Trump like this article have already been said time and again. We are at the nadir of the influence of the United States of America. A majority of Americans along with the international community recognize that he is a total incompetent who should be removed from office but nothing happens. Trump should be sent packing along with all of his supporters if our future is to look anything like our past. His supporters will whine about overturning the results of an election but impeachment is just as much a part of the Constitution as is the electoral college. Anyway, Hillary Clinton won that election. While we are kicking Trump out of office we should also repeal the electoral college system and replace it with a simple majority vote system. The electoral college system has far outlived any usefulness.
4
Trump's grip on his base would be fractured if a courageous whistleblower out there released Trump's tax returns to the media.
When the base sees his feet of clay, the spell/curse will be broken.
8
A grievance ridden political movement centered around reactionary social politics with retrograde fiscal and economic views sustained only through propaganda and demonizing of the poor and racial minorities.
Conservatism is a character fault that denies the inevitability of change. It is morally and intellectually bankrupt and must resort to trickery, mockery, chicanery, and every underhanded maneuver imaginable in order to keep power.
7
The one element that neither the Democrats nor much of the press still does not get is that a significant portion of the population could not care less: Rather, they see Trump as the first President/politician ever to at least try to keep his word and do the things he campaigned on. The manner in which he keeps his word (conducts himself) is a very distant-second consideration. Consequently they love that he has taken on China and Iran as he said he would, but could care less about a little sliver of land in a far away desert that they never heard of nor see any benefit in. Bottom line: They hear much of the anti
Trump wrangling as little more than partisan noise. And their republican Congressmen and Congress woman and Senators hear them loud and clear.
9
This editorial should have been written long ago. Right out of the box, "Senior Advisor" Jared Kushner tried to establish a secret back channel to Putin at the Russian Embassy. Trump fired Comey and bragged about it in the Oval office with two smiling Russians (attended only by the Russian press), appointed an unqualified oil executive to head the State Department (who immediately set about gutting the agency by discharging or forcing out senior diplomats), populated every other agency with unqualified "acting" heads, met with Putin at every opportunity in secret (and in public) with no record made of what was discussed or tearing up rcords that were made. The flag waving Republicans do not care how badly Trump damages America, or how long they may be out of power because of it. Wiith what Trump has done to our government and institutions (especially the Judiciary), and will continue to do while in office, the Republicans know, one day, they will be back in power. Everyone can imagine, on their own, what that will bring.
12
We might be able to get rid of Trump, but what will we do with his supporters, some of which tend to be rather rabid and hard of hearing. We can’t even blame them for what they have become after the decades of economic globalist mismanagement perpetrated by both parties to benefit solely the rich and corporations.
5
The editorial board forgot one important fact. Not only elected officials swear to protect the Constitution. All appointed federal officials; including military officers and...please note...foreign service officers.
I remember well my own State Department swearing in forty years ago, even though I was simply an engineer hired by USAID. It was not taken lightly.
I believe that is why such umbrage is taken by members of our State Department. They know their duty is to serve and protect the constitution.
A lawyer, under our system of justice, has an obligation to his/her client. The Constitution sits behind that obligation more as window dressing than as guiding principals.
That is the peril of "shadow diplomacy."
3
The image of the Republican part is not very good under the present president.On the other hand the Democratic party leaders are seen as chaotic and may not have skills to run the country as it should. People are in confusion which way to go.People want to go forward to bring in prosperity and equality to all.It is quite debatable now as what to do. News media can play a very constructive role now as how we should decide our future. Although no one can predict future while destiny has some role it plays.
3
The Republican Party has made a tradition of having criminal enterprises run out of the White House with every administration since Nixon.
For some reason, the party gets a pass while Democrats clean up the mess. And then, voters return Republicans to power.
Of course, the game is rigged by vote suppression and gerrymandering and outright fraud, but then they get another pass.
If the modern history of the Republican Party were compressed to a few sentences, it would reflect corruption and racism and corporatist authoritarianism.
But... people forget.
8
@Leigh, Philadelphia
Spot on comment about Trump's in-your-face populism being a distraction for the all-the-super-donors-can-eat buffet. Each of the 50-odd Republican chefs know that they will be replaced, if they change the menu.
This editorial is more educational to American voters' sense of right and wrong than influential to those office-holders. A strong majority in each state coming to its senses about domestic policies is the way-forward.
How Trump is prone to create foreign catastrophes that will effect American businesses in the long term - might spur a mini-revolt among Republican Senators. If they need to show backbone against the Russians or protection of allies to sell a Trump Party defection, then do it now please.
4
I agree with the editorial but am surprised at the long winded and old fashioned way in which this was written. The issue is very clear.
The United States Congress composed of both Republicans and Democrats must do their jobs as elected representatives of all of the people regardless of party affiliation. We cannot let President Trump prevail protected by what he calls his RED WALL ( 60 Republican Senators) who will not vote to impeach him no matter what evidence is presented to them.
We must hope that facts are more important than sound bites and a President who stands before a cheering crowd claiming he has been a "politician for three years now" and he finds it boring to act Presidential. The crowd roared. SAD.
Now let's get set for the G7 Summit at Bed Bug Hotel.
What are we going to do about it? Clearly Trump thinks he is in charge and he can pull it off- destroy our democracy and get away with it.
5
Donald Trump is a child deconstructing and thus challenging many if not all the norm structures upon which we have built political life. The adult parts of the rest of us have choices in relation to this child and his behaviors. Our fears are not our allies in making these decisions.
Do we give in, give over to one or another equally childish framework by submitting or slapping down him and much more importantly, his scared compatriots or do we trust in longer outcomes and reaffirm boundaries and consequences? Almost every parent has known moments when they want to scream and stifle.
The real question is Why we have emerged this Loki, this trickster, at this time? What functions is he serving?
I am aware that the stakes here are not childish, that there have been, are, and will be real consequences to Him and that some pay the costs much more than others. But as with children who hurt themselves and others I cannot be so attached to the immediate suffering that I do not simultaneously work to understand What is going on in a broader, longer time frame.
Something New is being born here and as with every procreation there are risks and pain which can be influenced but not eliminated. Deconstruction can verge into destruction, be more or less violent, more or less externalized versus internally reflected. Breathing, self examination, and repeated efforts at understanding outside ourselves are what we know best lead to acceptance, decreased suffering, and actual influence.
1
In the real world why should the GOP really worry? Trumps antics about Biden has mortally wounded ,in my opinion, Biden’s campaign . Trump hasn’t mentioned Warren in months because he wants to run against her. Trump will paint Warren a socialist who wants to make you accept government healthcare.He will ask what will happen to our banking system if it has to eat a trillion and.a half dollars of student loan debt. After watching last weeks debate I would say it is the Democrats who have a real crisis.The only rational person who I believe who has a chance of beating Trump in states we need was Amy Klobuchar. The endorsement of. AOC and Rep. Omar is going to be the kiss of death for Bernie Sanders in Rust Belt.I remember we wrote the GOP off in 2008 with election of OBAMA. I abhor the GOP but do have respect the fact they always find a way out of the Boxed Canyon.
9
You're missing the point. If the Republicans cared about history or our democracy, Trump would never have assumed office. I'm afraid those two noble constructs are on the far back burner. Wealth, the accumulation and preservation thereof, is driving this train wreck. Laws have been passed, rules broken and lifetime judicial appointments made to shore up their interests before the train goes off the rails. I used to be horrified by the French Revolution's guillotine; now, I totally get it.
12
Never underestimate the current Republican Party’s ability to stay silent, to blame anyone who accuses Trump of anything, and to cover their own rears no matter what. I don’t see a principled person anywhere among Republican senators. And then we have Kevin, Devon, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Meadows, etc.
10
Too bad there is no Margaret Chase Smith in the Democrat party to tell them enough is enough with Adam Schiff playing the role of Joe McCarthy. If Trump is as bad as they say, surely there would be a landslide in their favor next November and the country could go back to happy subservience to the elites and the deep state.
3
A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."
Keeping it requires education and work, neither of which 40% of our population has or will do. It is much simpler to allow an authoritarian to make your decisions and that is what we see now with the republicans and trump base. That part of America has fallen very low.
14
There is a crisis but it is not within the Republican Party. The crisis is occurring within the Democratic Party. There is a feud going on between Tulsi Gabbard and the Democrats with Hillary Clinton leading the way. They are upset that she is not following the progressive party line. She is a moderate while the other presidential candidates are liberal. She is not afraid to speak critically about her party which makes her an anomaly. She is brave and even though I do not agree with most of her policies I admire her tenacity.
The Democrat party has been losing members because they have moved too far to the left. The majority of Americans are in the middle and cannot relate to the radical policies brought forth by the party. They want no restrictions on immigration and open borders, free college education, free health care, and everything paid for by the government. This is socialism and it has failed in every country that has adopted it. The people are starving and the only ones who benefit are the political leaders. Do we want to become another Venezuela? I hope not.
President Trump won the election with the aid of many Democrat voters and he is sure to have their help again. They cannot support a party (Democrat) that does not share their values and they have become way to liberal for their taste. It appears they are not going to change their ways anytime soon so the voters will continue to flee. Of course, this is great news for the Republicans.
9
It’s got to be more than the GOP vs the Dems for us to get out of this Trumpian swamp of party over country.
It’s about country over party with a party’s platform a manifestation of best government and governance of all. A number of highly functioning European countries have free education. The value of a military industrial complex is waning and been a cover to centralize wealth far too long. Let’s not confuse socialism with communism.
Fair policies fairly funded can help ALL Americans get a piece of the pie Republicans have hogged over the last fifty years. Our country will again be the world leader other countries will trust and work with again. And we can again open our doors to the best talent - welcome others to share.
A rising tide lifts all boats.
3
@KMW The Gabbard-Clinton thing is a waste of time and the reporting on it is dysfunctional. A candidate with less than 1% of the party pulling for her and the loser of 2016? Truly a fringe cat fight at the outer edges of the party. Clinton should go back to doing anything but politics and Gabbard should go back to working for the people of Hawaii.
6
“The Republican Party is again confronting a crisis of conscience...”
They’re confronting a crisis caused by not having a conscience. Once you go down the road of enabling and appeasing an unqualified president who’s gone rogue, it takes considerable leadership, courage, and backbone to make things right. I doubt that a significant number of Republicans in Congress have even one of those qualities.
9
@Bob Bunsen So why does Schiff conduct hearings in secret and endorse selective leaks? Face it - you have no cause for impeachment and the country beyond the NYTimes knows it.
4
I have this fantasy that Republicans in the Senate will realize that this is their one and only opportunity to get rid of Trump if they stick together and vote to convict. If a large majority of them did so, they can then individually justify their vote to their constituents by pointing to their Republican colleagues and saying they had no choice. If they don’t vote to convict, they will be nothing but Trump’s lackeys for as long as he lives.
6
It is extraordinarily important that the House of Representatives not vote on any articles of impeachment until Trump administration members have been forced to comply, by the courts, if necessary, to all subpoenas either for testimony under oath or documents. Congress and the American people need irrefutable facts before convicting a President and removing him from the highest office in the land. If we allow this crisis to be framed as a partisan issue, subject to interpretation, we fail miserably as a nation and the damage to this process may well be permanent. Get the actual documents in the secret server. Get the testimony under oath. Lay out the hard facts, then make the sober decision.
5
At this point, what more can one say?
3
Trump is the spawn of the Republican party. President Trump is a product of the people that gave the country, Joe McCarthy, and after Dwight Eisenhower, administrations filled, top to bottom, with criminals great and small. The party that has deregulated the markets, cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy to the detriment of the rest of Americans. The Republican, party that for over 40 years, has given the American people numerous financial crisis, huge deficits, let the country's infrastructure crumble and our education system fail. The Republican party has celebrated attorney generals like Bill Barr and Ed Meese who have shown no respect for the rule of law or the Constitution. The Republican party has repeatedly shown that laws and taxes are for the little people.
That said, the spectacles of Trump rallies have been made possible by a Republican party that is only interested in money and power. We the people are the Republican party's gullible marks, people easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action. Say like electing Trump.
9
This behavior by republicans predates Trump and finally speaking out against him now would only be to serve their desire to save their own skin not the republic. Their cowardly enabling of Trump has allowed him to do lasting damage to the country and it is way too late for any of them to claim doing the right thing now as any noble deed.
5
Aren't the Republicans that are looking the other way asking themselves, "What happens if Trump wins the 2020 election?” In their shoes, I would see this as a nightmare scenario. When he feels that he has gotten away with corruption, he doubles down and does something worse. The pattern is clear. The day after the dud that was the Mueller testimony, puffed up with the realization that he would not suffer any consequences from his administration’s obstruction, he brazenly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. If after all that we have witnessed these last years he still wins the 2020 election, all guardrails will be gone, and all bets will be off. It will end in impeachment or worse. All those who enabled or ignored his corruption and chaotic behavior will pay a steep price, and the Republican party may be left in tatters. So, why are so many Republican Senators, many whom I had once thought highly of, paving the road to this scenario. It just does not make sense.
6
There is no happy way out of this, the “this” being the deplorable situation of incivility and frank disgrace Trump has sown of this nation, which it has largely indulged. Some may say his congressional support comes from noble persons who forsake their own reputations in the hope of steering him into better direction and decision for the sake of the nation’s welfare. I’m not so sure of that, politicians being concerned as they are about their own personal interests ... usually involving money or power or both. The day and the likes of Senator Smith are long gone, buried in cynicism and quid-pro-quo tactics under the disguise of democratic compromise. Trump is a failure as a man and certainly at least therefore as a president. He behaves like a crime boss, in actual fact. However, to put it entirely on him and not take some responsibility for our national current dysfunction is to fool ourselves.
1
The only way Republican senators will ever step up is by an anonymous vote. They are just too afraid of Trump, too fearful of losing their jobs. Hypocrisy knows no bounds, and these senators have shown again and again their willingness to put party above country.
6
The revolving question for the Republicans is; if they allow Trump to get away with another crime against the Constitution, what’s next? He is just getting worst with each new phase of his onslaught on our Republic and the rule of law. His unbound sense of power has allowed him to unilaterally blow up our Middle East policy and create a much more dangerous world by freeing thousands of terrorists and empowering our enemies. The Republican Party has a chance to protect this country or become an accomplice in its destruction. What will he do next, or more accurately, what will the Republicans allow him to do next?
7
McConnell is facing the reality that an impeachment trial is almost inevitable. In spite of that, he seems to be more interested in protecting his majority in the Senate than in protecting the country from an autocratic, irresponsible president.
9
@Pat Boice In a way, given the stacks of unvoted-upon bills on Mr. McConnell's desk and the idea that he, unlike the creature, possesses a functional intellect, Mr. McConnell is more of an autocrat than Trump is.
4
Thanks for reminding me that Senator Smith was speaking in 1950 and that it took 4 more years for Republicans to "turn" on Senator McCarthy. The Republicans, in other words, have a very long history of putting party over country. As a result, we have the current corrupt Administration and a party that facilitates it as part of their "brand".
It also occurs to me that Mr. Trump's pandering to his "base" comes from a crass and vulgar recognition that what "they" want is someone who can "take care of them" (solve their perceived problems). They don't want a limited government. They don't want a level playing field. They want a "daddy".
So, those Republicans that pander to Trump will be tossed out like so much "rotten fruit". How apropos.
3
Donald Trump's shocking behavior this week with respect to Turkey is bookended with his bizarre contract award to himself on the G-7 meeting site. Coming in tandem with a McConnell early-week refusal to decline a full Senate trial, followed by an amazing late-week Op-Ed emphasizing how Trump's actions have eroded his support in the Congress, McConnell acts are reminiscent of Hugh Scott's ultimatum-like statement of eroded Senate support to the somewhat deranged Nixon.
4
Let’s not give John Kasich too much credit here. This is the guy who just last week said that the Republican Party bears no responsibility at all for Trump or his behavior. Never mind that they nominated him and then have marched in lock step with him ever since!
3
There may be a reckoning on Trump but what is really needed is for Republicans is to have a reckoning on themselves. Sadly that probably won’t happen because for the most part they are what he is. Trump is merely an unhinged caricature of what Republicans represent and as such he puts an uncomfortable spotlight on their greed, racism and lust for absolute power by any means.
3
Republicans represent themselves as unique holders of moral and religious values, being anti abortion and pro gun. They are hypocrites who in fact care nothing about those “values” but use them to appeal to the worst most selfish instincts of a gullible electorate. What they really care about is political power, destruction of social security and Medicare while driving ever more income and wealth to the top at the expense of the middle and working class. What is so infuriating is that voters are so gullible they actually buy in to the culture war nonsense while voting against their financial best interests.
6
I haven't trusted Republicans since Regan. I had thought that Nixon was an aberration, but GE Ronnie proved otherwise.
It has always [after Eisenhower] been party before people, self-interest before the public interest and a blind loyalty to the desires of the rich and powerful titans of commerce and wall street.
They preach a phony patriotism, an empty Christianity and a shallow family values sermon that has bamboozled too many Americans. They need to go the way of the woolly mammoth!
5
I will take Mike Pence over Trump, although I violently disagree with his policies. Let him take on the democratic nominee in 2020 in an honest contest.
1
A reckoning by Republican power brokers is coming as a sure thing.
The GOP is staging its comeback by positioning Mitt Romney to ride in on a white horse. Mittens isn't speaking unrehearsed lines.
The worse Trump is, the better Romney appears. It's win, win.
The more polite and powerful Republicans will salvage the party. For what it's worth. Billions. Low taxes. Faint regulations. Compliant courts.
2
Thank you for remembering the brave words of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith back in 1950. Many of us in the great state of Maine have been waiting....and waiting....for our Senior Senator Susan Collins to make a similar Declaration of Conscience speech. It didn't happen with the Brett Kavanaugh nomination and, sadly, it probably won't happen now. As we well know, Susan Collins only votes against her party when it costs her NOTHING.
"Bye, Bye, Susan" in 2020.
5
The republicans in the Senate and Congress must and should speak up for what is right. They look and act as if they have been totally brainwashed by the president. What has happened to them? They form an equal branch in the government and have an independent voice. They have credentials and years of experience which the president does not have. If they are afraid of losing their own election but not afraid of losing their morals,ethics and integrity ,then they have no right to serve the people. They seem to be afraid of incurring the anger of Trump voters . But if they do not act for morality and justice they would fall into the pit alongside the brainwashed Trump voters.
4
Republicans are in a fight for their very survival in the face of changing demographics. All they have left is hypocrisy, racial fear-mongering and gerrymandering to maintain power. Don’t expect them to act rationally or give up easily—it will get much uglier before we see any rays of sunshine.
4
I hope enough Republicans still read the newspaper and will come across this excellent essay to possibly awaken them from the stupor of their Trump trance.
3
Reps can't see that they are engaged in a self-destroying process.
3
The message from the Republicans in government is clear: we do not care about the country, the Constitution or decency. We care about getting a conservative Court and we will back a criminal to do it.
5
Hey, the GOP don't see this as a reckoning. They see it as part of another dirty election and progressive power grab. President Trump is an obnoxious bum but he's better than the sanctimonious intelligentsia candidates proffered by the left who promote the workers paradise with two chickens in every pot, all without cost. Dems are determined to repeat the mistake they made last election by offering an un-electable candidate.
3
The republican party is ethically, morally and intellectually bankrupt.
So too are the Americans who continue to apologize for Mr Trump and their republican representatives in Congress.
The republicans and their apologists have centered their intransigence on their belief that a "deep state" conspiracy among the intelligence agencies, the justice department among others has undermined our government.
Republicans supporting Trump and his apologists now, after everything he has said and done, do not want a United States of America. They do want another shot at an updated Confederate States of America. No, they don't want a return to slavery. They just want to be left alone in their regional oligarchies to dictate political thought and social behavior.
Just like Mr Trump's best buds, Putin, Xi, Kim. They all understand quite well how to use propaganda to fan partisan divides and, more importantly, how to use their powers of "justice" to ensure their continued rule.
3
" ...to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. "
DT represents a clear and present danger to the Constitution and all that fail to oppose his actions are complicit in the attack.
3
The current administration has become the Trump Syndicate, and its GOP enablers his mob. Rather than organized crime, we are witnesses to disorganized official behavior.
4
Let's be honest. The Republican Party's supposed rectitude has been a ruse masking racism, double-standardism, and reverse-Robinhood-ism for at least 50 years. "Welfare Queens." The "Willie Horton" campaign ad. "Right-to-work" laws. "Trickle-down economics." Trump simply tore off the mask, revealing the Republican Party to be a dead man walking. America needs to replace the morally dead Republican Party.
6
The GOP has much to answer for. They are capitalizing on selling "sharpies"- supporting a mistake and then a lie on the hurricane's path
Plastic straws: who cares if their grandchildren inherit a polluted planet?
"Where's Hunter" tee shirts: due process anyone?
"Get over it" tee shirts- we broke the law, deal with it!
Wasn't this the Law and Order party?
4
"Surely they are not so desperate for short-term victory as to tolerate this behavior? We’ll soon find out."
Let me answer that for you: nope, ain't gonna happen. The R's will continue to bow down to the narcissist in chief because he owns the republican party.
Vote!
2
I wish all the national leaders have to pass basic screening tests like their IQ, ADD and impulsivity score, ethics score , knowledge of American history and constitution etc.
1
Maybe I've become too liberal in my 80 years of life, but I see precious few political figures whom I can view as great exemplars of rectitude. Even the much-vaunted Eisenhower was persuaded by Dulles to look the other way when it came to Vietmam. And the much-vaunted NYT was a supporter of our ridiculous and bogus Iraq invasion. The US has a long history of fatally meddling in other countries' politics: Guatemala, Vietnam, even Hawaii, which became a US protectorate when Queen Liliuokalani saw the US gunships hovering about. The closest people I see as credible saints among our Presidents and aspirers to the Presidency are FDR, Carter and Sanders. (FDR, after all, happily incurred the wrath of his uipper-middle-class confreres in advocating the New Deal, which our present-day Republicans are hellbent on dismantling.) lRecent close contenders are Obama and Warren. In my view, jail is too good for Trump, but I will say this for him: his proposal of his Doral resort has, like so much of what he does, a brutal honesty about him. His cynicism about our stated ideals, as in the emoluments provisions, is abundantly clear.
1
One of Maine's senators, Susan Collins, fancies herself the successor to Margaret Chase Smith. The reality is that Senator Collins will not vote to convict Trump in a Senate impeachment trial. She will whine at length about his "inappropriate" behavior and "clearly wrong" policy decisions, but in the end she will be another Republican lemming following their dear leader into autocracy.
5
This so-called crisis is of the Republicans' own making. During his campaign, Trump made fun of a special needs reporter at a rally, laid out his abusive and criminal attitude and behavior toward women in an Access Hollywood interview, and blatantly called on Russia to interfere in the election on his behalf and accepted all the help Putin could dish out. None of these words or actions stopped the GOP from stepping up and supporting him. The media did not call him out then or now on his criminal, autocratic, and incompetent behavior to this day. Excuses have been and continue to be made for this man who is taking America apart piece by piece. This editorial is the strongest that the New York Times has offered so far. All it lacks is the Editorial Board's call for Trump's resignation. When this Editorial Board and others across the nation can take that step, then perhaps America will have a future.
4
Unfortunately, Susan Collins is no Margaret Chase Smith. Maybe Lisa Murkowski?
2
@whiterabbit. Actions will speak louder than words. Not Lisa Murkowski ,unless her actions are not like others in her party. Say one thing but don't stand by it when it comes to action. We need action ,not just speech after speech.
Republicans should look at the Trump Republican Party of today and ask what it now represents for them: Blatant bigotry, racism, nepotism, cronyism, corruption with a "stick it in your eye" attitude, as well as corporate attitudes of "Trump gets away with it, so can I". America has been diminished under Trump and this weak Republican Party. We must stop and say enough is enough
2
Donald Trump is the President for those who believe that professional wrestling is real.
8
There an only be a crisis if somebody in the Republican Party cares. They don’t...
Trump will win the 2020 election because they don’t.
1
As a swing voter who voted for Bill Clinton and Obama, I believe that the Dems and NYT are badly out of touch on this issue of impeachment. NYT Editorial Board needs to talk to fewer partisan Dems and Progressives that have never heard an opposing point of view because they are so closed minded.
Instead, they need to talk to people with open minds like me who do change their vote from Democrat to Republican and back and who will decide this next election.
Smerconish reviewed new evidence on CNN just this morning that shows that this all important block of swing voters in the Midwest do not believe that this focus on impeachment is a good idea at all for Dems.
NYT Editorial Board needs to learn that hard lesson and get in touch with the way that Americans who will decide this election think.
4
Politicians rarely lead. They sense where the people are and react. The GOP and Trump are symptoms of deeper cultural problems.
After years of running con games, Trump sensed that a large minority was unconsciously ready to welcome darkness to the highest level of government, and the rest was likely to succumb or be overwhelmed with horror. He was right.
In retrospect, subtle signs were there. The most-acclaimed TV series since the Sopranos have been about the lives of increasingly dangerous psychopaths. Tony Soprano, the psychopath mob boss who loved his children and never killed police officers, eventually gave way to the far worse Soviet spy, Elizabeth Jennings of the Americans.
It is one thing, however, to be fascinated with fictional psychopaths. It is quite another to elevate one to the White House. What does it say about our culture that so many of us took this extraordinary step? Will we come to our better angels in time for the craven GOP to change course?
If God is just, Trump will do for the national Republican Party, what Pete Wilson did for the Republican Party in California.
3
The statement to trump from Ms. Pelosi should stay etched in everyone's mind: "All roads lead to Putin"
5
No moral principles at all!!! Abandons everything and everyone except his children who hope to inherit his rotten money!! He has already abandoned the working middle class with tax cuts for the rich, the environment is further degraded, refugees and Kurds are abandoned. As anew retiree I wonder when he is going to try to destroy Medicare and Social Security
2
the Reckoning will be when President Trump is re-elected in 2020
booming economy border enforcement millions of jobs pro-life fair trade the list goes on and on for successes
all the Liberals and Democrats have left are fake made-up and laughable libel and slander if you support any of these America First issues then President Trump and the Republicans will go to a landslide victory
3
They violated that sacred oath a long time ago.
Too late.
2
Reckoning?
How do republicans live with themselves? Do they have mirrors that reflect back to them who they are and what they've become?
Not one of the republicans - regardless of what they espouse - is a conservative. They are free loaders, free polluters - pretty content at feeding at the federal teat financed not by rich or idle interests, by people who work paycheck to paycheck. They are against democracy, want a theocracy instead. They want religious ideologues in the judiciary, and education gutted. They love them uneducated white people. They elected a hoodlum because of his cruelty and vision of wickedness, not despite them.
Reckoning? No party has succeeded this much in destroying a strong republic, as have republicans.
4
A sack of rotten fruit, indeed. An apt description of today's Republican party. May they rot away completely so that we may be done with them as a political party. History will not treat them well, every last lick-spittle one of them.
4
Well spoken. Thank you.
Please, NYT, stop using pejorative terms like "debunk" when referring to allegations, however unfounded, that have not been, and might never be proven true or false. Another word with more precise meaning and neutral connotation is available - "rebut."
Similarly, the phrase "there is no evidence" is illogical, however persuasive. Stop using it.
1
The crisis of America is that the Republican Party has been the preferred partisan political choice in Presidential elections since 1964 of the white European American Judeo-Christian majority.
Among the 63 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 was 58% of the white voting majority including 62% of white men and 54% of white women.
Among the 66 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 was 92% of the black voting minority including 88% of black men and 95% of the black women.
Trump didn't run a covert stealthy subtle campaign. Every American knew who Donald Trump was and was not and voted accordingly.
Every American noticed Barack Obama's color aka race aka ethnicity aka national origin and voted accordingly. Only 43% and 41% of the white voting majority went with Obama in 2008 and 2012. Hillary Clinton won 42% of the white voting majority in 2016.
Although Hillary Clinton won 92% of the black vote in 2016, black turnout was down 11% from peak Obama. Black people haven't forgiven nor forgotten the role of Mr. and Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton in black mass incarceration and black mass welfare deformation.
While Hillary and Chelsea still don't have the basic human decency to stay out of sight and act to silently repent. Monica Lewinsky and Sister Souljah deserve and need better.
1
and from the ashes will rise a new party.... as the Whigs rose in opposition to Jackson....
1
Senate Republicans may very well start “separating themselves “ from our corrupt and criminal President, but the sole impetuous for them doing so will certainly not be any “eleventh hour” emerging respect for the rule of law and a sincere, patriotic love of country. No, the only motivation that will cause their abandonment of the person whom they have so shamelessly and disgustingly supported, throughout his countless ignominious, destructive, and dangerous behaviors, will be the stark realization that if they still stand by Trump their political careers will effectively be over. These rank, immoral opportunists have already fully revealed that the interests of America are secondary to the protection of individual political power. Ms. Smith would not recognize these reprobates as Republicans were she alive today.
1
The GOP wil rewrite history a millisecond after Trump leaves office, in 5 yrs. They will disavowtheirpart in the Iranian Warmth economic slump, the gutting of medicare, revving 4 month old babies from their parents, racial tension, costly costly trade deals broken. SS, the VA system, SNAP, farm subsidies for small farms, but large can still get it--they will scapegoat Trump, as will Douthat, the op ed guy here on the NYT, and Brooks, who always throws shade for Trump to get him elected,
The GOP decided to ride Trump's Popularity and endorse the most UnPresidential candidate ever to run for the Office !! They did it because of his popularity with too many of us ! A candidate endorsed and aided by Russia ! The fact that the GOP and so many Americans supported a candidate who was so rude, lewd, and crude just defies logic ! The fact that there is still a Fox Nation among us who still support a President with the most Dysfunctional and Chaotic Administration in History is sheer madness ! He hasn't succeeded at anything from Mexico and the Wall...to NK and China,,,the Gov't Shutdown to the Kurds left to be killed...it's all a big mess !! What in the world are Trump supporters supporting? Failed Policies? Unanimous Public Opinion should be that Trump support is both UNAMERICAN and UNPATRIOTIC !! What A MAGA MESS !!! As a Wise Patriot said not so long ago..We're Better Than Than !!! We need more Patriots like Mr. Cummings...an example of a Fine Human Being and an...American Patriot !! May his words ring in the ears of the GOP and all Americans !!
1
Great editorial. But using words like “fealty” send the message that these ideas (and this newspaper) are only for those with elite educations. It hides the message! Use words everyone can understand! People need The Times’s voice, clearly and directly and without fancy-word roadblocks!
Romney just gave a speech on Turkey and the Kurds and it didn't cause more than a ripple. There is strength in numbers and as more Republicans step forward, perhaps the mass will snowball. I am hoping they will be influenced by the generals. Where is Elizabeth Collins? Too scared, too? She could be the Margaret Chase Smith. The senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, has expressed criticism but I only heard it reported on NPR. Mitch McConnell was offended by our abandonment of the Kurds but not much else. How can anybody not be alarmed by Giuliani's grotesque dealings with disreputable men in Ukraine who are tied to Putin? Also, if Obama had paid off a porn star, the Republicans would be all over him.
1
“Fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear,” — show me a “conservative” party here —or anywhere —that doesn’t campaign and rule by those ways. It’s in the nature of the beast, and on view in Britain’s on-going Brexit disaster this very day. The only plausible exception is, oddly enough, today’s German CDU.
1
@NM It seems to me that Justin Amash is such a leader.
1
an excellent editorial.
when does the ny times imagine it will have to decide whether to call for the president’s resignation?
1
Wow, right on time. Sure didn't see this years ago eh?
Crisis??? What crisis. They sold our 3 years ago. Long as they have their congressional perks, and their jobs are safe, they don't care about our democracy or the people they "represent".. Lies, Sexual liaisons -more lies there, working with (for) the Russians... who cares. For the republicans, it's "what's in it for me?".
Good for Margaret Chase Smith back when. But the Republicans never really purged themselves of their shady and dangerous ways. McCarthyism and Roy Cohn lived on in Watergate mobsters and Nixon, and then Manafort and Bush II and then Manafort-Stone-Cohen- Giuliana and Trump. When will the GOP become a real "political party" rather than a criminal club of rich white men who dog whistle and lie, cheat and steal??
2
what crisis? Federal judges! tax cuts! Rape the environment! incompetent appointees in agencies that are supposed to protect America! Corporate interests first! We are in Republican Nirvana. why do you think they are retiringin droves? it certainly isnt a crisis of conscience. Simply, there is nothing left to do. Go home and spend that tax cut... cash into the private sector a la Rick Perry....
“You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role. Impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
-Lindsey Graham
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-crime-impeach/
As our founders all knew from their deep understanding of Roman history, “the disease of Republics (and democracy) is Empire — which this faux Emperor Trump so clearly exposes.
Shameful cheerleading for the Democratic Party.
50% of the population is Republican; I’m going out on a limb and say Republican writers are officially excluded from your board.
Please prove me wrong.
Even one?
5
How can you say that the Republicans didn't get results through Joseph McCarthy? Not only did they get results they managed to pin it all on him, essentially inoculating themselves against blame - that they well deserved. The irrational fear of Communism taking hold in America paved the way for Vietnam. It empowered American warmongers then and still today. Our military budget is as large as it is today because of Joseph McCarthy. He is the foundation of Republican right-wing political strategy - scare Americans into voting for us. He gave birth to the political career of Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich and all the others who demonize Democrats for various unfounded reasons. And now we have Trump and Republicans are standing behind this unconscionable, corrupt President after over two and a half years of insanity. They impeached Clinton for lying about an affair he had. Trump lies in broad daylight. He edited a national weather service hurricane map and thought we would all buy it. Joseph McCarthy is looking up from hell and smiling.
3
We are being attacked by a Russian intelligence campaign using twitter and Facebook avoiding journalistic integrity and creating a 5th column element . Pelosi knows it and so does every guilty Republican .
have any of you noticed how your Republican friends are living out the Kupler-Ross cycle of grief beginning w Denial, Anger, Depression, etc. https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=kupler+ross+death+cycle&fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_011&hspart=iry&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_011&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%3AFilePath%2FK%25c3%25bcbler_Ross_grieving_curve.png#id=4&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fwnet%2Freligionandethics%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F02%2Fpost05-coping-with-loss.jpg&action=click
It's helped me be more kind and patient to Trumpians instead of my natural inclination which is to be harsh and inpatient, resentful.
Our nation has got to heal! I'm as guilty as most in my anger, but my anger is not going to get me anywhere nor heal our country.
1
Please have the courage to actuslly say something; otherwise turn in your badge. The Trump supporters don’t “risk” betraying their oath to support the constitution by covering for Trump— they flatly “betray” their oath. No mealy mouthing.
The question for both sides in this matter of impeachment is, will there be enough free spirits to turn the herd around?
Romney/Kasich for President...I like the sound of that...
Signed,
A Republic Woman
1
Everybody who has a Republican Senator or Representative should invite them to read Margaret Chase Smith's "Declaration of Conscience, June 1, 1950" and ask them if they see themselves........
1
When the Horowitz and Barr & Durham reports are released, you will likely be writing about the crisis in the Democrat Party. The only crisis though in the GOP is in Washington DC. Far from the beltway though, there is no GOP crisis.
1
The GOP put Donald Trump in power. His true character was no secret; he was a self-admitted sexual predator, a racist, a tax cheat, a philanderer, a con man, a serial liar, a fraud (Trump U), a crude and rude man who was supremely unqualified for the presidency. They sold their souls and now must sleep in the Trump stained bed they made. Asking them to uphold the rule of law now, after holding their noses and looking the other way for three years, would require an undeserving act of redemption. So to all those Republicans who made their deal with devil, Trump U and the horse you rode in with.
Republicans will do the right thing when pigs fly. Trump could engage in cannibalism on the Senate floor and Mitch McConnell would pass him the salt and pepper.
3
I dunno, they have honed their art of denial for decades. Eyes wide shut, ears closed, nose plugged.
Forget impeachment.
To redeem themselves Republicans need to drum him out of the species.
The Republican Party has become a disgraceful mess of morally and criminally corrupt parasites. Never again will they be respected by the American public that actually care about our country and the broader planet.
2
Gee, let me shake the hands of all those "patriots" that chose to stay in a tainted, treasonous, crooked administration so that "they" could save our democracy. C'mon down all you patriots. Let's see who you are. And thanks again for saving all of us.
Sorry, no Everett Dirksen, no Robert Taft, no J. William Fulbright, no Henry Cabot Lodge or Thomas Dewey in sight. Not the Republicans of 1954, not by a long ways.
1
The New York Times Editorial Board, based on absolutely no evidence to the contrary, apparently assume that the Republican Party isn't okay with the destruction of the Constitution and democracy.
Meanwhile, every shred of actual evidence demonstrates to anyone with their eyes and ears open, that the Republican Party is not only okay with dictatorship, the Republican Party wants a dictatorship.
That's what Republican voters want: A White Supremacist theocracy. What more do you need to see than Republican assault on the judicial system. The Republican Party fully intends to dismantle the Constitution from the benches. What else does the NYT Ed Board think is going on at the MAGAt rallies? The Grey Lady's graybeards need to go back and watch 1930s newsreels.
We need to stop deluding ourselves. We need to listen to America's enemies, when they are clearly telling us exactly who they are.
2
You're right. Republicans will not be able to postpone a reckoning on Donald Trump much longer. I'm guessing in a little over 12 months. Then, again, Democrats have some reckoning to do themselves on their candidates and their platform, both of which are poised, it seems, for failure. The Declaration of Independence style listing of grievances by the editorial board is, viewed differently, a list of Trump successes. It is, in fact, the way I view them.
I'm sure the Republican will have to deal with Trump in 2024, when he leaves office. Until then, it's really the Democratic Party that has a crisis. But that wouldn't be much fun to editorialize about, would it?
2
Short term Trumpism may work. Long term it is the destruction of their party.
3
As of yet, there is no 2019 Margaret Chase Smith.
What are republicans waiting for? Maybe a nuclear missile launch by the stable genius? Will that be enough?
Adults recognize when a mistake has been made. They apologize. They make an effort to correct their behavior.
It’s already past the time when this should have started.
Please tell me the likes of graham, kennedy, jordan, gaetz, zeldin, and a few others don’t control the party. Romney stood up. Others should follow him - not trump.
There’s not much time left before a greater catastrophe occurs.
The corruption and partisanship won’t disappear overnight, in months, or even years, but a big reversal can be made by removing trump.
WAKE UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! ACT like the leaders you were elected to be!
5
How far back should we go in time? The reason America doesn't have national health insurance is the fact that FDR, with Frances Perkins's prodding, proposed it, and the GOP Congress failed to pass the legislation by one vote.
We're very fortunate that they were able to get Social Security and six months of unemployment insurance passed.
The GOP gave us the National Highway system under Eisenhower, but they've been due a reckoning ever since with the time-wasting and counter-productive shenanigans of Nixon that had to be purged, the "small government, anti-labor, starve the beast" attitude of Reagan that severely weakened our Federal regulatory protections, reduced labor unions and started the dismantling of a responsible, ethical tax code that productively benefitted the entire country.
Geo. H.W. Bush was a decent, honorable individual who served us well, and we thank him for his service.
The GOP since 2000 has wasted the Clinton budget surplus, gotten us involved in the disastrous Middle Eastern powder keg, cleared the path for the 2008 economic meltdown, and then gave us Tweety.
America is long overdue for a complete political overhaul, and I just pray that the country survives long enough to purge Tweety and his enablers throughout Federal, state and local offices to purge GOP attitudes and behavior from our midst.
4
Mr. Trump hugs the flag and denigrates his oath. Much more than failing to "preserve, protect, and defend" he has instead made of himself a domestic enemy of our constitution in nearly every conceivable way. If it is even possible to restore confidence in our government the first step will be impeachment and removal from office and then criminal prosecution for Trump and every member of his government who broke the law.
In the future Congress must act to craft strict limits on the Executive Branch which has grown in power over the last decades to a dangerous degree. No future president or potential office holder can ever be allowed to threaten our freedoms in this manner again.
2
DJT aside, most Republicans seem to respect the opinions of military leaders. Hopefully, the wise (and funny!) remarks of General Mattis at the Al Smith dinner the other night will become widely disseminated.
4
Sen. Romney strong moral character offers a surprising revelation. I'm not sure how to put this without offending, but from a base of demonstrably untruth one can establish order and civility.
This article and Mc Raven's editorial in the Washington Post today should be read by every American.
McConnell has an editorial today also in the Washington Post condemning Trump's action with Syria and Turkey. He knows that if the articles of impeachment include treason, defying Congress and criminal use of foreign aid, Trump may be removed by the Senate. Is he giving the Democrats a path forward?
Trump and Mulvaney are saying the President can do whatever he chooses in matters of foreign policy and our troops. They and the entre administration have openly defied Congress. The President has openly aided and abetted Russia and other enemies like North Korea and tried to convince us they are not our enemies. Disinformation on Russian meddling is fully accepted as true by Trump. That is treason.
Nancy Pelosi set the stage this week by pointing at Trump and saying "All roads lead to Russia;"
Impeach for treason NOW!
5
The republican party goals are long term. Even if another four years of trump means the demise of the party as it is today, their goals will have been realized and to the gop the loss of party will have been worth it. It will take decades to correct the most egregious affronts to our constitution and traditional values after they're gone.
4
Our former Republican governor, Bill Milliken died yesterday. Although I am a Democrat I voted for him in every election in which he ran for governor. He was the last Republican I ever voted for. A true American and magnificent Michigander, he will be sorely missed. There are no Republicans like him anywhere. A very sad day for our democracy.
7
My prediction? The Republican Party will be so stained by their sport of Trump that a new Conservative party will have to emerge. Or the American experiment in democracy and self government perishes because of them. Ask the Junkers, who thought they could manipulate their leader for their own political purposes, how that turned out for them.
2
In 2019, there is nothing "Grand" about the Grand Old Party. Their reputation has been tarnished in multiple ways. First, by aligning with George W. Bush who brought us endless wars without an exit plan. Second by stonewalling Barak Obama and committing endless investigations into things like Benghazi and Hillary Clinton's e-mails which had only the promise of blowing taxpayer money and then the shameless blocking of a Supreme Court pick. Finally and most gravely, the support behind Donald Trump as they sat on their hands and did nothing as he spent the last three years destroying America's reputation around the world with utter disdain for past principal and malfeasance in office. If they want to redeem themselves, they will vote for impeachment and removal. It is only with the current stain removed that they can move towards a repair of their image and reputation.
6
Suffice it to say that Susan Collins is no Margaret Chase Smith.
It's been a long time since the Republican party has seen "decency, honesty, [and] responsibility" as anything other than a marketing slogan. Corruption is now the party's core organizing principal; selling influence to the highest bidder.
Everything is for sale with those people: national security, patriotism, honor, the lives of our citizens and military personnel. All can be bought for a price.
9
The next bridge to cross for these Republicans who have betrayed our U.S. Constitution will come on the first Tuesday in November, when American voters will cast their ballots all across these United States.
Let’s wait and see how these Republicans fair.
3
Republican voters like everyone else are malleable. Trump has shown that whatever he thinks, the party will follow. Syria is a good example of where the party voters just decided on a whim to give up decades of foreign policy beliefs, and they will be non-interventionist at the expense of allies.
Pundits think that the Ukraine call was what united Democrat voters for impeachment. But that's only correlated. It could also be correlated with Pelosi holding that press conference and telling America that what he did warranted an impeachment inquiry. The voters fell into line after that.
A party's voice matters. If Republican lawmakers throw Trump out of the white house, they will see short term pain and more than a few white supremacist marches, but the moment President Pence is sworn in and gives his hokey christian speech to the nation, the wound will be salved and the party will collapse back into line.
@Nick: Trump is insubordinate to the drones the states sent to Washington to leave them to undermine each other.
They're not in crisis. They stick with the rich and ride the gravy train. They care about symbols and believe in nothing. They have been effective at getting their members to vote en mass whether regardless of needs of their districts, states, or the country. They have supported a president whose actions are insupportable out of fear of breaking rank. Republicans are good soldiers; they are not leaders. They do not support the Constitution, Justice, or Americans unless they are in the military or rich, important groups, not doubt, but not the future of the country. If the rest of the country does not lose hope, and can smell the future on the wind, goodbye Republican party.
8
The Republican Party has systematically undermined the rule of law for the sake of power since Reagan (at least).
That's when they got serious about violating the first ten words of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."
They also got serious about violating the first four words -- the topic statement! -- of the Second Amendment:
"A well regulated militia..."
It's the same choice today: the rule of law and the foundations of our great country, OR more money and power?
Most Republicans still choose the latter.
4
Very good try, but just as in the 1950s, we are still roughly four years away from a reckoning. The Republicans don’t care about things like decency, responsibility and so on, they care about money, and the “freedom” to make it, through exploitation of natural resources and of labor. That is what they care about (with a few notable exceptions) and as long as they are getting that, they are happy. Those other values are only scenery, covering up the mechanism of profit motives.
Why four years? Because by then, the man in office will have tired out the nation, as second term Presidents always do. By then the fascination with an openly self seeking man will have worn out, and the Party will realize it will lose big if it continues to identify with him. The Party has always stood for self seeking, but under a kind of civic mask. This man is the true face of the Party, and by then there will be a danger of people really seeing it.
3
The Republicans are very cleverly using the phrase "overturn the election" rather than "remove the President from office". Pelosi and Schumer should not let them get away with this. Even so-called moderates like Susan Collins are using this phrase. The Republicans will vote to impeach if and when Donald Trump has become a political liability, i.e. when it is virtually certain that he cannot be re-elected; otherwise, the spin will be played out on "let the people decide" just as it was for Merrick Garland. The problem is the people can't decide easily under the electoral college system.
7
@E Holland
You are correct. This is another reason why the Republicans want the House to vote now. They don’t want to wait for more evidence to come out that will strengthen the Democrats’ hand.
6
The Republicans have been an anathema to me since I was a child. My first time was during the election of 1960, on the school bus you either supported JFK or Nixon... During the '60's, I supported LBJ and RFK, and even HHH who should have defeated Nixon... There were some Republicans I liked and trusted like President Ford after Watergate and honorable men like Senators Dole and McCain... The division of this nation in this century started with the "election" of President Bush, continued with President Obama and now with President Trump. I feel that the political system is broken, and I am challenged every day to find some good coming out of Washington. Trump wanted to drain the swamp, yet I feel at this time in 2019 that we as a nation are mired in quicksand. There is no easy solution to getting out of this mess, except impeachment of this President. Let the House vote on articles of impeachment and bring it to the Senate for trial. Let every Senator listen to the evidence and vote with his or her conscience whether to remove this man from office and restore some sense of dignity to the nation and its citizens.
5
@SK You're presupposing those in office have a
conscience. Thus far, they have proven they do not.
1
Our country and the GOP cannot avoid serious damage if Trump is allowed to continue as President. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should start negotiating with Speaker Pelosi to find a way out for Trump, one that his ego can live with, I'm sure he also realizes by now that the job demands are out of his league. The health of our Democracy and the sanity of our citizens depend on it.
6
Republican senators would do well to remember the majority of the country does not approve of their behavior.
9
Just a beautiful inspiring editorial reminding us that this issue is not Republican vs Democrats, but defining who we are as Americans. Let us seize the day and try so hard to embrace the dreams and aspirations and the vision our our country. Trump has got to be stopped and Republicans have to reflect on exactly what they were willing to compromise on to maintain power. Power at all cost...at any cost...then what is left of us?
We need to embrace power for good, for what's right, for what's fair. Hopefully this all will help ALL of us clarify, redefine, and recommit to who we are as proud Americans.
5
Republicans with intact ethics and a conscious should change their voter registration to the Democratic Party. Plunging roles of the Republican Party may motivate the Senate to act appropriately. Additionally, switching to the Democratic Party will help assure a mainstream Democrat is nominated to lead the campaign to restore order.
10
When this ends, if it ends,--if we survive a malignant narcissist with access to the codes-- there must be a full reckoning about this GOP's abhorrent, inexcusable behavior.
Being derelict in one's sworn oath to protect our nation from enemies foreign and domestic is no light matter; it cannot be allowed to pass unchecked (in both senses of the word). To ignore the role of those who have aided and abetted DJT's grotesque misconduct, which often veers into the illegal, is as bad as what he has done.
History tells us that there will inevitably be dangerously bad rulers elected. It is incumbent on the citizens who fall down at the first checkpoint, by refusing to see the evident danger, to then act once such a person is in power. That's doubly true for those who actually put him in power.
This GOP's behavior is so stunningly appalling that there simply is no explaining it. I don't say this lightly, especially in a moment when the word du jour is "unprecedented," but it is time to investigate the GOP.
Beyond being political, expedient, and self-serving, it's time to ask some hard questions about what this body gained by so blatantly refusing to uphold its duty to act as checks and balances. What, in fact, were they getting from refusing to do their jobs? When does such a refusal, ipso facto, constitute a crisis?
The GOP also needs to be investigated.
5
"Republicans once saw as foundational virtues: decency, honesty, responsibility." These slogans and their endorsements are by themselves a political smear since they imply that others are not decent or honest or responsible. Always beware of the easy slogans, they tend to hide the lack of political ideas.
4
Thank you for this reminder of Margaret Chase Smith's words during the McCarthy debacle. Hopefully her words will move more GOP leaders to remember the oath they all took, an oath to all of us, no matter our personal persuasions.
10
"Compromise by compromise, Donald Trump has hammered away at what Republicans once saw as foundational virtues: decency, honesty, responsibility. He has asked them to substitute loyalty to him for their patriotism itself."
Although I agree with the rest of this editorial, this sentence allows for focusing on Trump only, while indirectly referring to the 1950s as example of those virtues.
WHERE were the "decency, honesty, responsibility" as GOP virtues under Obama, however?
It is BECAUSE the GOP had already abandoned them, step by step, for two decades (with Fox News hiding those facts from their own, massively betrayed voters), that by 2016, GOP voters and the GOP leadership was ready to nominate someone like Trump.
How "decent" is it, for instance to launch the Iraq war based on lies (more than 4,000 Americans and more than 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians killed)?
How "honest" is it to try to prevent people from buying private sector health insurance by falsely claiming that Obamacare, a bill that saves an additional half a million American lives a decade, would mean "Armageddon" and "death panels"?
How "responsible" is it to double the deficit (after years of claiming to want to cut it), only to give massive tax cuts to the wealthiest citizens? Or to systematically gut crucial EPA regulations and massively spread lies about climate change? Or to block hearings on SC Justices for an entire year?
Trump didn't build this, the GOP did.
24
When the Senate holds their impeachment trial, let the record be clear that the trial will not be whether Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses. He has openly admitted that he has done so. His staff, the whistleblower, and good, dependable civil servants have also witnessed the impeachable acts. There’s even a transcript (the Ukraine call) and video (president asking Ukraine and China) of the acts.
The sole issue at the senate trial will be whether, when a sitting president uses his/her office and the resources of the government to go after political rivals (or opposing parties), that is an impeachable offense. There seems to be a disconcerting number of Republicans who have said this is an acceptable action. I am in disbelief every time I read about someone saying that. I personally would not be happy living in a country where criminal actions like that are acceptable. I truly hope and pray the rule of law prevails on this one when the time comes.
22
The Republican party's crisis is "very very" real and may lull Democrats into a false sense of security regarding the 2020 elections. Nothing fires up Republicans more than Democrat's Righteousness & false sense of entitlement. What should Democrats continue to do during ongoing Republican Party Crisis? Democrats who disagree with Republican/Trump’s policies have to avoid being reluctant to work or be unreliable. If you’re undependable, it doesn’t matter what your values are, no serious person is going to trust you or vote for your party's candidate.
The Republicans may be forced to reckon with Trump, but they are not likely to reckon with themselves - their cowardice in putting party before country. The damage they have done in letting Trump roam unleashed to "do things differently" has done incalculable damage to the country and to democracy.
They should all be in jail for abuse of power.
17
The "smart" Republican money is on moving Trump out of the way in time to put an electable candidate like Romney on the 2020 ticket. Romney-Kasich could prove attractive enough to put some semblance of decency and integrity back onto the GOP facade. But so far, excluding Romney, Kasich and a few others, dumb has far outnumbered smart.
And an impeachment trial where Mitch doesn't convict will seal the coffin for the GOP's chances as a viable organization going forward in '22 and '24. The public outcry and anger will prove too much to ignore. America's core values of decency and honesty will have been trampled just too much for the man & woman on the street to stay quiet.
A quick impeachment trial where Mitch convicts (we only need 20 warm bodies with some brain power on the Republican side) could give them some oxygen. Mitch would be the hero on the right. Pence could silently serve out the rest of this term while the chameleons like Graham, Rubio, Cruz and the rest of the Party leaders(?) squirm their way back to becoming "lifetime" defenders of the constitution and saviors of the conservative movement.
But the real problem lies in the fact that so far, since Trump came on the scene, in the GOP dumb has outnumbered smart. When the man at the top is in way over his head and is demonstrably incompetent and his followers are merely lemmings it will take a jolt of reality to break out of their mold of complacency. Maybe an impeachment can still save the party.
15
We have found out. We know exactly what the Republicans stand for: greed and corruption. They could not be further from their professed patriotism. It is all a sham to protect their donors and secure their own power and enhance their wealth.
Any censuring of Trump by the GOP now is far, far, far too little, too late. It would only be jumping on a train that is already pulling out of the station.
They will come to the certainty that they will have to disavow him when the call for his removal from office exceeds 55%. It is at 52% now. They will do it then from knowing that he is unelectable and that their own seats are vulnerable.
The rats from the red states will abandon ship when they are personally endangered by him and not a minute before that.
Trump is the Republican Party.
10
As long as the Fox News besotted electorate swears undying fealty to Trump, I wouldn’t hold my breath for any moral awakening.
It strikes me that the populace are radicalized and dumbed down; there is no room for moderating discourse to bring a common vision of decency; hard core conservatives will chuckle to see it all burn
10
I’m trying to chess-think moves ahead here, and I’m wondering if there isn’t another bad scenario we must fear. If Republicans do turn on trump and he does go down, will a shinier face of this deplorable party come forward and be electable next year? This may be all the more plausible if Democrats nominate someone considered too left leaning. As 2016 clearly showed, Republicans always come home.
492
@Tom Hayden I honestly believe that Ron DeSantis, newly-elected governor of Florida, ran in the last election solely for the purpose of grooming him for a vice-presidential nomination in 2020, then the presidency in 2024. I was surprised that he won, perhaps as much as he was, but now I'm wary that he'll be on republicans' tongues to step up in 2020 to pick up the pieces of the trump debacle. We must both be aware of and beware this trump acolyte.
109
One scenario liberals should fear is if President Trump steps down or worse is removed from office then Mike Pence will really rally the conservative base for 2020.
76
@MDCooks8 An even worse scenario will be if Republicans put Nikki Haley on the ticket. She is highly electable, particularly if the Democrats do not moderate their views. In my opinion, Liz Warren should talk about gathering the best actuaries and mathematicians in the country to create a NASA like organization dedicated to designing a National Healthcare/Medicare system which will work for everyone. Further, she should talk about her "plans" in such a way as to include other good ideas and modifications which can make them even better and workable; otherwise she comes across as a know-it-all, her way or the highway type of person. She needs to show how she can be a truly great leader, not just an intelligent policy wonk.
177
It's a nice thought that the Republican Party can step up to the plate and do what their constitutional responsibility requires, but based on what I've seen to this point by the over whelming majority of the Republican Party in both houses of Congress from their leadership on down, when push comes to shove, they always seem to capitulate to becoming disgraceful Trump apologists, i realistically don't see anything changing them at this point, in end they always seem to parse out some whiny excuse for Donald Trump's actions.
3
Trump supporters will vote for him, no matter what he does. He could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and they will still support him. So...the 'true' Republican's might as well do the right thing and get rid of this lying, cheating, corrupt president, before he sell the United States to the highest bidder. By the way, this is an excellent article.
6
"Surely Republicans are not so desperate for a short-term victory..."
or another way of saying it "Surely we as a Nation are not stupid enough to actually give it to them."
We'll soon find out.
3
I am an independent voter who often voted for Republicans, although that was in NE, not NC. But if Republicans forsake the oath of office they swore to and if the Senators do not vote to remove this president then I will never vote for another Republican. Republicans need independents to get elected. Sen. Tillis, you are up for re-election, I look at you with a searing eye. Are you a patriot or a lackey? We shall see.
4
"Fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear" -- that pretty much sums up Trump's MO, otherwise known as demagoguery. If the GOP wants to give a demagogue his head, it will be to their detriment along with everyone else's. And not just as a party, but as citizens, as people. This IS a crisis. It's not going to get any better because Trump's not going to get better. He's only going to get worse. He has got to go.
2
Donald Trump is exactly what the Republican Party has been looking for: a manic clown to keep the folks amused and distracted while they’re being robbed blind. The Party ‘leadership’ may feign disapproval of his antics now and then, but don’t take that in the least bit seriously.
Tax breaks for the rich; willy nilly deregulation; a fire sale of long-protected public lands and resources for private plunder — for the Gruesome Old Party and its donor class, it’s all well worth the minor annoyance and embarrassment of the clown in the red tie and his red-hatted hoard of barely literate buffoons.
3
The answer to the article is ‘no.’ The reason is the basic ignorance of the Republican base. They are ignorant of the mechanisms of our Constitution, ignorant of the content and context of the Bible to which many incorrectly claim to adhere, and ignorant of an international historical perspective that would clearly inform them of the dangers of Trump.
3
A political party that would embrace the corruption of Donald Trump, from Day One, to this moment, isn't going to all of a sudden discover religion. The G.O.P. is actually more corrupt than the King of Fools who sits at the head of the table. As the Brits say, the G.O.P. and Trump made a dog's breakfast out of our Republic. The clean-up will take decades.
8
However, the cowards, no matter how damming the evidence, will not remove Trump and now, Pence. They still have no shame, no morality and even less ethics.
2
Eventually all who have supported, shielded, protected and voted for Trump will come to the sick realization they have been played for suckers. How will they know? He will be shouting it maniacally to the rafters as he is being taken away.
1
What strikes me as interesting is how cowed Republican senators and representatives are by Trump. Our own Republican representative has exhibited all the signs of a spineless coward or whipped puppy towards Trump. The Stockholm syndrome appears to have taken over the party as well.
2
Donald Trump is like a mob boss. He loves being feared more than being loved. The Republicans fear him. But this is their moment to take him down. Will they take it?
2
@Oliver
do they want to ?
there lies the rub...
1
Margaret Chase Smith's words--"fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear"--ring true today.
The Republican Party--especially the 53 members of the U.S. Senate--have a simple choice. They can act with integrity and courage, or they can continue with their cowardly ways.
My warning to them is simply this: Don't be on the wrong side of history.
I hope that at least 20 of the the Republicans have the courage to choose wisely.
14
The real power behind Trump now is the right wing 'news' industry. I'm not sure it even deserves to be called news anymore because any nod to legitimate reporting has been abandoned in the last week or so in favor of outright propaganda production. Take a look at Fox's headlines this morning and you'll see four articles attempting to paint Hunter Biden as a horrible guy who colluded with his dad to enrich himself. You'll so no reporting on Mulvaney's outright declaration that there was a quid pro quo. You'll see no reporting on who has recently testified before the House or what they said. You won't even read about prominent Republicans who've accepted the legitimacy of the impeachment inquiry, like Mitt Romney.
Nope, it's an alternative reality where the Bidens were evil grifters and con-Don is a saint for asking the Ukrainians to jump in and investigate them. I suspect this has something to do with the recent visits Trump administration loyalists have paid to Rupert Murdoch. I've noticed all the balanced reporting has gone dark after that happened. Perhaps Murdoch should rebrand to reflect the true nature of his 'news' organization. I think 'Trump News' is fitting, and it would earn Mr. Trump some licensing fees.
1
The simple fact that Republicans have been unwilling to confront their base and explain for them why Trump is bad for them, the country, and the party, is a complete failure of leadership. These Republicans have fallen to their knees and have genuflected publicly before ignorance, stupidity, bigotry, unconstitutional and even illegal behavior by Trump and the welcome acceptance of all of the above by their base, which they have groomed for this very moment for decades. Imagine handing your soul, and this country's, over to someone like Donald Trump. Every Republican in Congress should be made to wear a scarlet DT pin every day.
1
Dear Republicans,
You are in a tough spot. Because of trump's cult and your own previous inaction, you are afraid of actually holding trump to account for the terrible, impeachable things he is doing. But you know that he has to go. My mother taught me the way to know if you are being fair in your judgement of a person or event, put another face on the same situation. Imagine if President Obama had done the exact same things trump is doing? What would you do? Now, imagine 4 more years of trump being allowed to govern? He will destroy your party.
Here's what you do, allow just enough Senators, from safe States, to vote with the Democrats for impeachment. The Democrats are tough, we can take the backlash for his under-educated cult. And you will be rid of trump, for good, and you can get back to building your party and actually stand for something. You will be able to look yourself in the mirror again and not cringe.
Republicans probably will lose the White House in 2020, think of this as penance for letting this lunatic run lose in the White House, when you could have shut him down in 2017. But you will get your party back and you will stand for something again.
1
Most of them are culpable for the horrendous crimes and violations of donald tRump, and his criminal gang, by letting him/them get away with all this for almost 3 years. It really doesn't matter what they do, now. They can't save themselves. Americans are really disgusted and angry. We, the people, don't want a country governed by greedy, abusive self-servers who laugh at traditions, institutions, protocol, and the law, and only care about the extra public money they can grab. We will be better than this. Light has finally dawned.
3
The Republicans held Bill Clinton responsible for lying about sex which has absolutely nothing to do with national security, treason, sedition or blowing up the Constitution. The nation clearly saw that and made the Republicans pay dearly for that farce. Trump's transgressions involve all of the above. Only the cultish Trump followers see it otherwise. We will soon see if Republicans can deprogram themselves.
Isn't "deprogam themselves" an oxymoron? They would already have seen through the programming already in order to deprogram themselves and then it would no longer be necessary.
“That’s the way of all autocrats; they eventually turn on everyone save perhaps their own relatives, because no one can live up to their demands for fealty.”
That is what we are dealing with. The president is an autocrat. A deeply stupid one, but nevertheless. The endless lies and machinations of the republicans have ended with an autocrat in the White House. The Republicans have done so much damage to this country.
2
Grief weeping indeed. Instead of the principled Margaret Chase Smith, the good people of Maine are stuck with Susan Collins. Her hypocrisy knows no bounds even as she claims that Senator Smith is her inspiration in public service.
4
Its time give Donald's supporters a psychological exit ramp. A lot of people have been hoodwinked by conmen. It is not a crime to be tricked. Sometimes intelligent people get caught up in cults. You can't heal the country by rubbing people's noses in the dirt and humiliating them. You need to heal and act humanely to the many people who were duped. It is hard for them to get over it Forgive and sympathise. They were innocent people who were duped. Wrap this thing up. Each day this goes on damages America. But he must leave. NOW.
1
@Bob Guthrie
Some Trump supporters were duped and others really like his cruelty and incivility. I figure the ones who were truly duped will have the guts to come out and say it out loud. The others, who continue this tirade of name calling and childish behavior, I truly believe they are forever lost, like their hero Trump.
2
Few people really like Trump. His main advantage in politics is that the Democrats are the Party of Free Stuff, Illegal Aliens, Censorship of Speech (they don't like) and Military Weakness. Trump is a terrible boor, braggart and source of bombast, but he still is better on most policy matters than what the Democrats have on offer.
1
Forget Florida. Our two illustrious senators have their own checkered histories. Rick Scott was far more sly than Donald Trump in sucking hundreds of millions of taxpayers' Medicare dollars out of the system and into his own offshore accounts. This was before he was elected governor and forbade the the use of the term "climate change" in his administration. Then, we have Marco Rubio, who, according to alternative South Florida news sources, began his career of crowing for individual responsibility and initiative with funding by a drug-dealing relative flush with cash.
Whatever integrity and leadership we can hope for from Republicans senators will not be initiated from these two who cannot lick the boots of our homeless veterans wandering the streets of Miami.
2
"Senator Smith’s question once again hangs over the Republican Party: Surely they are not so desperate for short-term victory as to tolerate this behavior? We’ll soon find out."
Is that a joke? Susan Collins is no Margaret Chase Smith. And the voters of Maine will show their contempt for the lackey Collins come November 2020 by booting her from office. But the others? In many ways, the Republican senators are worse than Trump because Trump never tried to hide who he is. Senators with ZERO dignity like McConnell, Cruz, Rubio, Cornyn and of course Graham are really beneath all contempt. Their total lack of morality is so complete that it's an insult to one's ears just listening to them speak. At this stage, ANYONE calling themselves a Republican must be viewed - MUST BE VIEWED - as devoid of any sense of decency or honesty. More than anything else, the LYING is unbearable and insulting. They say things that are so obviously lies and expect us to believe it as truth? For me, that's the worst part of this entire scummy episode in American history, that without any sense of shame at all we are lied to blatantly and expected to believe it too.
4
The Republican party's position is absolutely pathetic to anyone trying to make sense of the current situation. Why aren't more sensible people prevailing?
2
Most Republicans will put self interest ahead of the interest of the country. The party has been morally compromised for years. And that is what paved the way for a Trump. You only have to take a look at the list of Republican dirty tricksters like Donald Segretti, Lee Atwater, Carl Rove, and most recently Roger Stone to see how far down the immoral pit this party has fallen. Then there was Nixon.......
4
Donald Trump is very popular with his base and the Republicans hadn't had such a popular President since Reagan, who was also coming from the B area of entertainment.
The Editorial Board simply cannot accept that they don't have the monopoly on right and wrong, and the like and dislike of all people, and that Trump is immensely popular with his base who sees qualities wherever the NYEB and the left see a fatal flaw.
A famous Harvard experiment taught in all business classes around the world shows a drawing that 50 percent of viewers perceive as a pretty young woman and 50 percent perceive an ugly old hag. The perception of Trump is like the perception of this drawing, and no matter how much lecturing comes from the Trump haters, there are people who see him in very different and positive terms.
So all this drumbeat that one day the people who like Truump will sorely regret it has become boring.
The Dems should bring a better candidate and settle this at the ballot box, but some of their current positions are very unpopular with voters (open borders, race biting, the woke culture, the never ending wars, etc).
2
My family always argued with me when, for over 40 years, I would say that Republicans are terrible people - mean spirited, selfish, autocratic. They no longer argue.
5
If the weight of the impeachment investigation hasn't already been stressing Donald enough, the Senate hearing will almost definitely drive him over the edge (somewhere in the bottom of the abyss he's already holed up in).
In the ensuing tweet-based insanity verbal diarrhoea that follows, we might find a few more Republican senators than expected doing public reveals of their recently re-discovered shattered remnants of their spines covered in Trump's 1000 day excrement-storm... and then they'll vote to acquit him, because they were actually the chicken bones from Trump's last KFC bucket... because what is another lie to a GOP senator when they haven't stood to correct any of the last 13,000 lies, or rebuke the diarrhoea problem of their glorious leader.
And other than that, words truly fail me when talking about the GOP.
2
I would like to think the republican party will eventually pay for at least 40 years of moving the government to the right to the point were we are just shy of full blown white supremacy, trickle down economics fraud, the largest income discrepancy ever, endless wars, soaring debt, a polluted planet, lying consistently about everything from Weapons of Mass destruction to the weather.
But somehow the american people are stupid enough to keep voting for them, or are complicit and refuse to vote. They will also be afraid of change and better ideas to embrace the humane proposals of Bernie Sanders. The Joe Scarboroughs of the world will cry about Stalin and Castro to demonize an more fair and just society. They are cool with a socialized elite class through the pentagon and other subsidies that prop up the stock market so they can all slurp off the cream.
1
The Russian Collusion nonsense fairy tale backfired.
Mueller bombed.
The fake Ukrainian scandal, cooked up by Schiffty, has now backfired and knocked out the Democrats’ deep state candidate.
And now you are moving on to reason number 36.
Trump should now be impeached for ending the deep state’s wars. He is threatening their ability to misappropriate.
You really can’t impeach someone because you know you can’t beat them fairly in an election.
It’s fun to watch the Democrats try, though.
1
@Ken
please reconsider
the outdated Electoral College system has brought us this " President "
why have all campaigns been around " battleground " states ?
this alone points out the unevenness of the system .
p.s.
the Dem candidate won 3 M more actual votes
1
@thostageo
The American people voted for Trump, fair and square. Well, except for the usual Democrat cheating.
Please review the following from the BBC before you try and tell us NY and CA should decide our national election.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37889032
Electoral college or no, Dems have virtually zero chance of winning this next one.
1
Before the Board pretends to teach the lessons of history, it would help if it were not an F student. There appears not to have been any need for the GOP to face a reckoning regarding McCathy. From 1952 to 1960, America liked Ike.
Republicans are reaping what they have sown for decades. If they continue to prostrate themselves before Trump, the more moderate among them may lose their seats. But if they muster the courage to do the right thing and remove Trump from office, even more of them will lose their seats to those rabid voters who attend his rallies like the one in Dallas this week. The real problem is not the 53 Republican Senators; our real problem is the 63 million Americans who voted for this amoral, ignorant buffoon. Republicans have created this mess. They will now suffer the consequences.
2
"Surely they are not so desperate for short-term victory as to tolerate this behavior? We’ll soon find out." Spoiler alert: Republican Senators will put Trump before their country. You needn't waste your time wondering which way their sycophantic wind will blow.
3
Protect the Constitution?
"By protecting Donald Trump at all costs from all consequences, the Republicans risk violating that sacred oath."
Nonsense! The y do not "risk" this; they have already violated this oath!
2
The rotten core of the Trump edifice is hiding in plain sight. It's in the tax returns. Obviously he's desperately hiding something big. By far the most likely explanation for Trump's behavior lies in his deep financial encumbrance to Russian oligarchs beholden to Vladimir Putin. In effect, Vladimir has taken the place of Fred: bailing out Donald after some business fiasco. And by far the mostly likely explanation for his capitulation to Erdogan is that Recep has found out what the Russians hold over Donald. If I were The Donald, master of - as Michelle Goldberg so aptly called it - this crime syndicate administration, I would be very afraid. I feels like the beginning of the end of his lousy, scam presidency. And when it collapses it'll go quickly, I suspect. Trump is just one last, supremely idiotic and vicious tweet away from oblivion.
2
When the “Sun King” Louis XIV was woken in the morning, his most favored courtiers were given the immense privilege of being allowed in his bedroom to watch as their monarch was bathed, combed and shaved. Although we are now 400 years on, GOP “courtiers” like Lyndsey Graham, Mick Mulvaney and the entire cabinet and Congress have managed to achieve the same metaphorical level of sycophancy in 2019. History does indeed repeat itself.
6
They are and it’s a disgrace.
2
The Republican party clearly needs to go the way of the Wigs and the No Nothing Party.. They are clearly corrupt to the core and have sold their soul to big corporations, banks, Wall Street and the 1% millionaires.
As a party they have used racist dog whistles and lies to inflame uninformed Americans to become so worked up that informed reason is lost on them which we may never be able to repair...
Is there anyone in America not named Trump who can look you in the eye and honestly say they think Trump would never throw them aside? No. He is a cheater through and through.
So every GOP supporter is supporting a sham of a man, out of fear rather than any respect. What cowards. Cowards.
1
Senator Graham’s standard; returning honor and integrity to the office. The Constitutional standard with the politically defined, misdemeanors. The debate about whether one narrow article of impeachment (Ukrainian focus) is better than multiple articles, bringing in all other areas of questionable behavior.
One article. This president has brought shame and dishonor on our country. In a global world, he has lead other nations to believe they can buy our aid, our assistance with alignment with a president’s political goals. Ukrainian dirt-digging, Central American immigration concessions (never mind drug dealing connections, aka, Honduras), China to prop up our economic dependence (supply lines, cheap labor). Domestically, every national resource, every regulation, is up for sale.
He has embraced extremist governments, whether it be extremist religion, white supremacy, ethnic cleansing, chemical warfare or unrestrained nuclear experimentation. After our one, generational attack on 9/11, he has given up and abandoned allies in the fight, and is ready to hand them an entire country, Afghanistan, for a renewed base of operations.
He has told countless lies to the point no one here, no one in other countries can believe him. He has made us a global joke, untrustworthy, shameless, pathetic.
One article, encompassing both standards. Without honor, as yesterday’s editorial letter reminded us, as Senator Graham once believed, we have nothing.
1
When have Republicans NOT ridden the four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear — just to win elections?
From red-baiting, to Southern Strategy, to states’ rights speeches, to welfare queens/welfare reform, to religious extremism, to anti-worker, to unnecessary wars, to anti-Muslim... and multiple political scandals... the list goes on and on.
One can conclude that Republicans only espouse the values of decency, honesty, and responsibility. The four horsemen of calumny are the feature (not the bug) of the Republican Party.
The Republican Party brought it on themselves and deserve everything they get.
3
My awareness of how low republicans can go started with the equally low humans who supported Reagan. It’s worse but they’ve always been poorly educated and narrow minded
4
In a back to the future world, Trump would be grilled by Republican Senator McCarthy for his complicity with the Russians.
3
Here’s a thought for all who are celebrating in advance: “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”. After all, the polls were clearly indicating the victory of President Hillary Clinton. Until they weren’t.
2
Sadly, we have already found out where Republicans are on October 19th, 2019:
They are preparing to Censure.
And the person in all of this horror they are preparing to Censure is the Democrat Adam Schiff. Be afraid America, the top Republican in the U House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy is the one spearheading this atrocity.
Trump has shot Democracy on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and McCarthy wants to arrest the person currently giving CPR to the severely wounded patient lying in the street.
2
For everything else GOP jumps the gun, only this time it is dilly dallying as the gun is at itself.
Your asking the wrong question.
Why does the Republican Party continue to destroy the republic?
Over and over. Democrats get elected to fix the ideology induced mess left by Republican no taxers, Republican no sexers, Republican no health care, Republican know nothing judges from the 10 th century, Republican...
Question is who are these people?
3
McCarthy, Nixon, Trump... Why is it always the Republican Party?
1
Yes! And when the Trump Crime Syndicate is exposed for what it is, as Putin's lapdog, Republicans will be held accountable for their complacency in turning a blind eye to it.
2
Is there even ….one member of the GOP in the House or the
Senate who will denounce all the others in the GOP who
support an amoral President....any member of the GOP left
who can reform what had been a Political Party which stood
for fiscal conservatism and justice...
Who might this reformer of the Republican Party be ???
We as a nation need bipartisanship; oaths to our Constitution
kept...Who will stand up for Abraham Lincoln's party ???
In Hong Kong, Barcelona and Beyrouth, millions of people are out on the street because they have had enough. A "reckoning on Donald Trump's presidency" will only happen if Americans go out in the streets and protest until the cows come home.
1
As the editorial notes, the fear-mongering and state intimidation that characterized McCarthyism lasted for decades. Perhaps longer, since Republicans continue to describe a public health care system, which is the norm for modern industrial democracies, as “socialism.” Even more striking is that the current president’s role model was Roy Cohn, McCarthy’s vicious and amoral enabler. Trump dropped him the way he has with everyone else who is not family, but, mn
with no sense of irony or history, denounces witch-hunts and McCarthyism.
1
McCarthyism, Watergate, Iran/Contra, Hanging Chads, Weapons of Mass Destruction and Trump. What do these all have in common? Republicans.
5
For quite a while, Nancy Reagan and her minions successfully hid Reagan’s dementia from the public. Trump’s rants clearly show that he has entered deeper into a mentally deluded state. It is too late for impeachment, which presumes a crooked but sane President. A 25th Amendment intervention is absolutely necessary.
6
Unless you can get Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends to read this editorial on the air we are probably just talking to the wind. Sadly, 60 million will still vote for the nattering narcissist.
4
Republicans need to do as the New York Times Editorial Board says, and act to bring down their nefarious cheating anti-democratic leader. But they won’t because they are every bit as bad and as anti democratic as Trump is. To think otherwise is naive and makes fools of Americans, who need to know and confront the evil within.
1
yes they will. because Trump is exactly what Republicans have become and what they want. Puerile, juvenile, irrational, cruel, racist, uninformed, and delusional as it might be. It is what they want and believe in.
3
To borrow a phrase from history and Margaret Chase Smith;
“I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear,”...
Well said. They have been doing just that.
3
I, like the many readers of the NY Times, salute the Editorial Board for their service in shaking awake those readers who still deny the truth that is right before their eyes: we elected to the Presidency a creature akin to the gorgons of lore whose gaze has thus hypnotized many American citizens into acolytes of Donald J. Trump. These newly formed legions do not read the NY Times (fake news). I am surrounded by them in Dallas, TX. They do not listen to reason, they are stone. Pleas to remember the U.S. Constitution and what history has taught us they laugh at as if these truths were but half-forgotten nursery rhymes from grade school. We are doomed.
Really? Is that what you think, NYT? Because what I think is completely different. What I think is that America is coming to embrace dictators. So what exactly about pro-democracy are you pinning this Op-Ed on? There is no evidence that any Republican American will ever be a good person, yet you never call them out for the downright mean to evil things they do. Therefore the American public thinks D's and R's are just 2 sides of a coin. While the truth is that the R's are evil and the D's are useless.
1
The question history poses for Republicans: whose side are you on? The Constitution's or Putin/Trump's?
2
Bravo, NYT. Well done and spot on.
This video by Frank Schaeffer is the best analysis I've ever heard of why most Evangelical voters support Trump and are unlikely to ever withdraw their support.
Let Me Explain Why Trump’s Core White Supporters Won't EVER Turn Against Him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTARAarSZlQ
3
What Republican Party? There are no Republicans anymore.
2
German playwright Carl Zuckmayer's description of the 1938 Anschluss of Austria mirrors what is happening in 2019 America: the frenzied rallies, a divided country, a leader unbound by laws or traditions. As Zuckmayer described it: "the torpid masses were unchained ... all better instincts were silenced." This is the Republican party today. God help us.
7
The US continues to ignore the massive blow to its public intellect caused by brainwashing three generations with the specious claim of divine origin. The system we live under is the relic of a scheme that established liberty to enslave at the state level, that now pits us against each other under a fractured system of unequal representation.
3
The GOP made a deal with the devil & the day of reckoning is coming. Starting with the Religous Right & ending up with Trump...
2
Just finished reading Peter Baker’s excellent article about attending a trump cult rally. Was so heartened to read how liberals are referred to as the “enemy.” Perhaps if our liberal—since if you don’t swear fealty to the don, you’re a liberal to his worshipers—blue states stopped subsidizing these impoverished red ones, they’d really let us know how they feel.
God knows they don’t spend our tax money on education; those tee shirts are $30. a piece and then, of course, the hats.
5
Oh, dear. You're totally right, of course.
The supine Republicans... if only it were
merely their deserving selves they debase... But it is America and its people... every day.
How many, more secretly than the loud and deluded front man, rely on the same criminal foreign (Russian, Saudi, Chinese) and criminal domestic assistance just to have a chance to survive an American election? McConnell, DeSantis, for two.
It was McCarthy, it was Nixon, it is Trumo, it is McConnell-all Republicans, all fighting viciously against democracy.
1
How tone-deaf to reference the McCarthy era when we have the last democratic presidential candidate accusing a current democratic presidential candidate of being a Russian stooge.
I am not holding my breath.
2
Russian/Trump collusion started the Mueller investigation. Mueller found no evidence of such. Yet this piece and many comments still imply there was collusion.
The DNC server disappeared.. nothing to see says the Ed Board.
Zelinski says there was no quid pro quo,but there was.
The Bidens..nothing to see here.
Democrat political figures profited peddling influence in Ukraine and elsewhere.. all above board honest riches.
The sentiments of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page run deep.. apparently shared by many in the media.
Yes, they’re that desperate.
2
The president stood next to Vladimir Putin and sided with his lies over our intelligence agencies, and the republicans did nothing.
5
Well said New York Times. Damon Winter that is the most beautiful photograph I have ever seen. Keep your eyes on this situation in Syria. That has Republicans even in the Senate concerned.
It is actually a national crisis. The US should ask itself whether it wants to be a society pursuing Rawlsian Justice or the same type imperialism it fought when it dumped the tea crates into Boston Harbor.
Party labels are mess as meaningless. It just makes money for the newspaper business and a few others.
Don't hold your breath.
2
It is the 100th anniversary of the end of the Creel Committee or Committee on Public Information or was it the beginning?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Information
Watching the debate everyday on television,the press and the internet makes my days go by all too quickly. Philosophical debate is my bread and butter, the bread is artisanal and the butter cultured not churned and it is good.
It is no good looking for truth if you already know what it is supposed to look like.
1
Unmentioned in this piece but hardly the least of his sins: Donald
Trump is either under the control of Vladimir Putin, or he deserves an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Tragedy.
1
Senate Republicans will not act against Trump. Why in the world would anyone think that McConnel has any inch of decency left ! They do not care what NYT editorial board thinks.
1
“I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear,” she said.
That’s exactly what Trumpism is:
fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear,
1
Are you reading this Senator Collins? Show some Maine grittiness, will you? Go read about Smith and talk to people what Smith stood for. If you think you have some courage in profile, what are waiting for?
2
The GOP is rotten to the core. trump is but a symptom of this disease, which might be fatal.
Thanks for this editorial but this is far worse than Trump. As a former Goldwater Republican I learned the hard way how harmful the Republican party was and is to the people. See https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
2
The Republican party has become a pathocracy. The USA is being led by a president who fits all criteria for malignant narcissism. Like a cancer Trump needs to be removed. His toxicity is spreading everywhere and we really do not have time for him.
There are so many other crucial, time sensitive issues that need attention. Number One: Innovative Climate Action
https://theconversation.com/pathological-power-the-danger-of-governments-led-by-narcissists-and-psychopaths-123118
1
Today’s Republican Party is not the party of “We The People”.
The Republican Party is certainly not aiming to build “a more perfect union.”
The Republican Party no longer has a moral compass.
The Republican Party is the exact opposite of “E Pluribus Unum” — “from many one”.
And the Republican Party is most certainly no longer the party of Lincoln.
1
As all our founders knew from their deep understanding of Roman history, “the disease of Republics (and democracy) is Empire” — which this faux-Emperor Trump so clearly exemplifies.
1
There are two things to remember about The Donald:
1) he only cares and thinks about himself and possibly some of his family. Politicians like Lindsey Graham and Bill Barr think that they can sidle up to The Donald and advise, etc. but the day that they disagree or prove to be of no more use -- out they go. In The Donald's world everything -- people, staff, U. S. Senators, Cabinet secretaries, policies, taxes, tariffs, China, Israel, religion, abortion, etc. -- all of that is/are just props to be used and discarded as needed. The Donald has no more feeling of loyalty to Lindsey Graham or anyone else than he would to a street sweeper.
The Donald was quoted the other day as saying that he was looking for another Roy Cohn. Roy was The Donald's mentor and lawyer for many years but when Cohn became sick with HIV and was of no more use to The Donald, The Very Stable Genius dropped Cohn.
2) The Donald excels at shamelessness and brazenness. He wins by being nastier and more hateful than anyone else. People continue to be amazed at the lengths and depths to which The Donald will stoop.
The Donald's major weakness it seems to me is his temper. It is fairly easy to provoke him into having a temper tantrum and rambling incoherently. Nancy Pelosi gets under his skin and I have wondered if she does that deliberately. I hope so.
Even the right wing might turn on him if he is on television everyday having a temper tantrum and rambling incoherently.
2
Throughout my adult lifetime the Republican agenda has been to concentrate control of legislation in a small group of donors, raise the value of entrenched wealth while lowering the value of innovation and labor, restrict voting rights, impoverish the treasury via deficits to prevent any future social spending, and cement nondemocratic minority rule. DT is their shiny object of distraction from what occurs behind the curtain, the true acme. Where is the incentive for them to turn on him in favor of a new platform based on ethics and fairness?
8
Impeach for Treason NOW!
This is the only charge for which the GOP will vote to remove Trump.
Mulvaney's confession was a typical Trump/GOP admission of abuse of executive power with a big "so what". He said "we do it all the time". In other words Trump has repeatedly challenged Congress right to dictate any matters of foreign policy. Mulvaney was saying this "quid pro quo" was an exercise of legitimate executive prerogative. Bipartisan Congressional sanctions were held up for months for this reason. Pulling out of Syria and sending troops instead to Saudi Arabia was another example. Was their a political angle in favoring Turkey and Saudi Arabia which both have numerous Trump business ties? Sure.
The Doral decision will probably be the first step in Trump's stated intention to invite and host Putin.
The most important event of the week was Nancy P. standing up and pointing at Trump and saying "all roads lead to Russia". Unless the House includes a charge of treason in the articles of impeachment, they will not get the necessary GOP votes. There are a host of influential figures who would back that charge from former intelligence figures, generals and FBI officials. Keep in mind two Russian spies were convicted of funneling money from Russia through the NRA to the GOP. And now a new group is under indictment in the Southern District. The disinformation efforts of Trump, Mulvaney, Giuliani and Barr to exonerate Russia of meddling clearly come from Russia.
6
"By protecting Donald Trump at all costs from all consequences, the Republicans risk violating that sacred oath."
They violated their oath to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic a very long time ago. They violated their oath when they voted for him. Now they, too, are a domestic threat to the Constitution. They don't play by the rules; they play dirty. They are impervious to reason. We cannot agree on the most basic facts and the most apparent observations.
If the lawless of our government cannot be stopped, the citizens will become lawless too. Civil society will break down.
Of course, that's exactly what Putin wants. It's as if Trump is knowingly and intentionally trying to make this happen.
10
It’s not about a victory in the short term. It’s victory for generations, because his presence populates then executive branch with appointees who carry out his policies (which are perfectly fine with Republicans) and which, at least in the case of the environment, will have permanent and irreversible impact on it; while in the case of the federal courts, his presence assures generational strangulation of civil rights, allows running roughshod over the individual by the corporate super-rich, and whatever else the republican economic and social agenda and world view is. So, for Republicans, he is at worst a bellicose member of their party but at best, the guarantor that their policies will have generational, if not permanent impact. Which do we think will guide their ultimate position in him?
6
"The G.O.P. will not be able to postpone a reckoning on Donald Trump’s presidency for much longer."
Maybe they will finally learn that Trump and the Republican Party are different things. Trump is not the Party. If they want the Party to survive, Trump's presidency can't.
4
Yes they can. It’s their time to take over the government, and continue to economically and socially enslave large sections, and I mean large, sections of the population. To utilize the media companies of Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter among others, where their their owners and stockholders are mostly Republican, to systematically and completely spread the indoctrination of their repeated suggestions that they know better, it is perfectly acceptable that they be in charge of individual lives, make their decisions and supply their demand, through rapid and repetitive lies and fabrications of facts, deflection, ridicule, and passing laws to protect their profits and lifestyles at the complete subjugation and control of others. It’s not a conspiracy, but a process that they’ve realized works, otherwise there would be better infrastructure, health policies, employment policies and education.
4
America has flirted with political extremism, and once fought a dystopian civil war to rid itself of the blot of slavery. Our major political parties and leaders have performed their duties within commonly agreed upon guardrails: the Rule of Law, a non-partisan military, respect for all faiths and people, government regulation of the excesses of the marketplace, and, above all, country over Party.
The Republican Party, with Watergate, began slipping off the rails, and is now on the brink of disaster — a disaster of its own making. The denial of a Supreme Court appointment under the most obscenely specious rationale was a Rubicon or red line that the Republicans crossed with impunity; it’s been downhill ever since.
Can the Party of (once) Lincoln recover its bearings and rejoin a civil, lawful and patriotic middle ground? Party leadership is needed as never before; where will such good men and women be found?
5
My initial response to reading this editorial was a shrug and thinking, so what, this won't make a difference.
Then, I realized, I have become so angry and hopeless over the last three years that I've allowed myself to think that no editorial, nothing will effect change.
I believe in the rule of law. I absolutely do. I love my country and I think our free press hold sway over Congress when they write true and inspiring things about freedom and life in America and all over our globe.
I pray that the Republican Party in the House and Senate reads this editorial today because everything in this piece is true.
Redeem yourselves, your reputations, your legacies and our beloved country and stop aligning yourselves with Trump because, I swear to you, he is dragging all of us down with him.
9
I was born in 1949.
The last time, in my lifetime, the Republican Party had a conscience, was the day President Dwight David Eisenhower left the White House.
2239
@Robert Henry Eller: Ike golfed while military industrial complex pervaded the US psyche.
25
Ike warned against it - “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
124
@Robert Henry Eller
Good point on IKE, but I would argue that George HW Bush was a good man and a good president. I was born in 1971 and I served in the Marines under Bush I (1989-1993). He was the last decent Republican president. His son is a decent person but woefully incompetent as a leader. W should never have been president. It has been all downhill since 2001. Newt Gingrich sowed the seeds of GOP rot in the 1990s after Clinton was elected. And here we are today with this total disaster. And this is coming from a former Republican. I left the Republicans in 1994.
241
This disintegration of the Republican Party didn't start with the election of Donald Trump. It started with the undemocratic appointment of George Bush to the presidency by the Supreme Court. The most recent power grab was the refusal to put President Obama's supreme Court nominee up for a vote. Any student of american history cannot help but notice the similarity of these tactics to the tactics of the Democratic Party that led the the Civil War. I am not saying we are on the verge of a new civil war, but what lengths will the well armed nationalist supporters of president Trump do if Trump is not reelected. There is the makings of an armed insurrection.
1
As much as some of the leaders and pundits of the right might want to disavow Trump, he’s the logical end point of decades of modern conservatism. A grievance ridden political movement centred around reactionary social politics with retrograde fiscal and economic views sustained only through propaganda and demonization of the poor and racial minorities.
2603
@Nima
Salient observations!!!...and historical factual truths.
101
@Nima
BRILLIANT!!!!
Indignation is the GOP way.
85
I'd never heard the name Margaret Chase Smith before. Thank you so much for supplying a historical narrative in which a situation similar to today worked out well.
1
Those who advise waiting, letting the election solve the problem, are ignoring the point that Trump's actions are aimed precisely at biasing that election in his favor. He has evidently used hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, committed by Congress for security against our enemy, to advance his own political agenda. For practical reasons, if they are needed above decency, honor, rule of law, or their oaths of office, Congress has no alternative to impeachment.
8
It would be interesting to see a Mitt Romney vs Elizabeth Warren campaign should Romney be able to convince Senate Republicans to convict Trump. He’d surely get the nomination over the bobble-headed Pence.
While some of the red hatted MAGA crowd would likely stay home, my guess is there are more moderate Democrats who’d prefer Romney over Warren.
And if he was able to convince 19 other Republican senators to convict Trump, he will have earned those moderate democrats’ votes.
10
@HJS you are so right. This moderate Democrat would surely vote for Romney over Warren. However without a viable Republican alternative, then Warren will get my vote.
2
@HJS I would choose Warren-- not because I "love" her but because her focus on order and logic is what our country needs most. The GOP, in collusion with the alt-right, has destroyed the system which maintains our checks and balances. More than any partisan interest, we need that system restored.
9
@Siara Delyn Good point. She needs to articulate it that same way.
1
In a normal time the Senate Majority Leader would be pushing any reluctant senators to join to respect the constitution, perform their constitutional duties and to protect the country. Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell will do exactly the opposite, protecting not only Trump, but himself.
14
I was a high school student (from a Republican-leaning family) during the McCarthy hearings--a religious all-girls' school. So such political goings-on were deemed not important for a girl destined for marriage and motherhood.
Fortunately, my Spanish teacher thought differently. She watched the hearings during her lunch hour and updated us for the first 5 or 10 minutes in our class with her right afterwards. I have been forever grateful to her for opening me up to that larger world and its implications for the life of the country. And, yes, I did learn Spanish!
24
We have an election for President in one year.
The people will decide.
And, if the Democrats put up a demagogue like Warren or Sanders, the American People will probably re-elect Trump.
3
Bernie would have beaten Trump. If the DNC is still run by the Clintons, Trump will win again. When do you people learn?
2
@JAG demagogue: "a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power".
Sounds a lot more like your current President.
3
@JAG Back to the dictionary, JAG! There's no way Warren and Sanders fit the definition of a demagogue; however, Trump fits the definition to a T. (Proverbs 6:16-19 also gives a good definition of Trump, and 1 Corinthians 13 warns that the perceived powers and heady words of a loveless person like Trump are ultimately worthless.)
2
I’m debating with myself whether the party is in crisis-after all they still hold dignitary power and people vote for them. The problem seems to be us, the people and our lack of willingness to uphold the core tenets of the republic and the constitution, and our unwillingness to punish the party violating our democratic norms and institutions. The T-shirt you often see at trump rallies “ I’d rather be with Russia than the democrats” speaks volumes.
20
Despite the facts, Senate Republicans who state preconceived votes against impeachment or removing Trump from office should be eliminated as jurors. Every court in the nation asks that question and disqualifies those who answer yes for they are incapable of being impartial. A kangaroo court will perpetuate the harm Trump is inflicting on the country.
9
"By protecting Donald Trump at all costs from all consequences, the Republicans risk violating that sacred oath."
You are being very generous. They have already violated it, again and again. There is literally no one in the trump "administration." I put that in quotes because his minions in our government have nothing to do with the United States. They serve his interests, which are, at the end, governed by obeisance to Putin.
15
The question has already been asked and answered.
The GOP is just fine in Trumpworld. The convenience of situational ethics whereby anything done by Trump is good and anything done by the left is bad is just too wonderful to give up.
The Trump/GOP will lead America into the upside/down world of authoritarian kleptocracy defined by Trump because they know what's best for America and it's NOT democracy. Power and greed ARE worth it.
As someone from the GOP just said - Get over it America.
10
McConnell's impeachment trial court will no doubt turn out to be a reenactment of an Alice in Wonderland scene, and I'm really looking forward to watching Lindsey throw another priceless hissy-fit at the impeachment trial like he (she, it, they, ?) for did for the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing. One thing you have to give Republicans - they have truly become masters at Theatre of the Absurd.
16
Please! The Republicans did not suffer a "crisis of conscience" over Nixon or over Iran Contra or over Clinton's impeachment or over the Bush false wars of choice or over nominating and electing Trump.
You cannot shame these people, they only know raw power. That is why it is called Movement Conservativism."
Say those 2 words to a liberal and he or she has no idea what so ever you are talking about. That is how far apart the parties are in their goals and objectives.
Over looked by the MSM as to why Republicans will pay no price for Trump is the fact that many of them are "Putin Puppets" also who will benefit from increased election interference.
By this time in Clinton's impeachment there were 115 newspapers in major cities calling for Clinton to resign.
How many newspapers have called for Trump to resign? Especially given the almost immeasurable difference between the acts of the two men?
It's a round number.
Why? Why has no newspaper in this country called for Trump';s resignation?
21
Of course Donald Trump is a terrible human being. Trump's fellow Republicans already know this. They know he's a malignant narcissist, with literally no redeeming qualities. And they know he's a danger to our country.
The bigger problem are the Americans who continue to follow this damaged but dangerous man. I watched aghast at the news reports of Trump's rally in Dallas on Thursday night. Here are some of Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's unhinged remarks at the rally:
“The progressive left, they are not our opponents. They are our enemy...” Pointing at the press pool he continued: "Those people out there. They have no idea what’s coming a year from now, because we in Texas & around this country will not stand by idly or quietly & let the progressive left and the socialists and communists take our country away from us.”
This from Dallas - the city where President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. And the crowd cheered, much like a newsreel of a Nuremberg rally.
This is what terrifies me. Not Trump. Even if Donald Trump manages to queak out another electoral victory, he will be gone in 2024. But those fellow Americans who consider me "the enemy" - simply because I believe every citizen is entitled to clean air, clean water, equal opportunity and affordable health care - THEY will still be here.
37
@downeast60, I totally agree with you. One point though — you say that even if Trump wins again in 2020, he will be gone in 2024. With the rule of law now broken so many times, with the Supreme Court packed in his favor, and who knows — always the possibility that the Senate and House could both be controlled again by the Republicans—could it not be possible that the two-term limit could be eliminated and we could see an old, raging man still holding his chair in the White House until the end of his days? So many things that were unthinkable just three years ago have come to pass. This one could as well if he is not impeached and convicted.
3
Does the Republican party have another Margaret Chase Smith? Let's see. John McCain is gone. Maybe Mitt Romney or.... The fact that I can't put anything after the "or" speaks volumes. Even Romney is only a maybe.
To be sure there are plenty of honorable, decent Republicans who despise Trump for what he has done to their country and their party. But they are all out of office. And that's the point. A party is truly rotten to the core if it's decent men/women can't get into office. For whatever reason, the GOP electorate has gone over to demagoguery.
9
The GOP will bear the proverbial “mark of Cain” for its subversion of our Constitution. It is long past the time for Republicans to ask themselves how they want to be remembered in the history books.
6
The GOP has thus far managed to avoid any responsibility for GW Bush's war crimes and the illegal invasion of Iraq, crimes far more serious than Trump's penny ante corruption. Why should it be any different now?
8
Tax cuts for the rich, bigotry, racism, tolerance of white nationalists, tolerating 30 million Americans without healthcare due to lack of health insurance, and attempting to drive the uninsured number up higher to 45 million by trying to repeal Obamacare. Anti-LGBT, anti-women, anti-hispanic and anti-immigration.
The Republicans in the House and Senate should start "draining the swamp" by impeaching themselves and step down from their supposedly public service offices.
9
We all know how most of the GOP will behave: sell out America in favor of their own short-term “gains.”
How could any thinking person ever believe Republicans, as a party, could possibly ever come around to operating on behalf of ordinary Americans rather than their own pocketbooks and totalitarian predilections ?
9
This should be a crisis for local Republicans even more than Senators and Representatives. While many scratch their heads in disbelief, many appear to enjoy this mess. Remember Steve Bannon? They know this is a long con, a decades long Reagan attack on government that is now accelerating at breakneck speed. It used to be good for business, but what of the future? Is it a wonder we have a broken infrastructure, courts that barely function, a poorly regulated medical system and labor in decline? Better to scapegoat someone else. Republicans need real morality. Some proclaim the Christian faith. Should they mourn for children lost in the Middle East, sacrificed for the profits of petroleum or "just get over it"? Does Ivanka pray for them while lighting candles? Republicans kvetch over regulating female organs but look the other way while the wealthy get away with sexual abuse. Instead of counting petro-dollars, Republicans should mourn the extinction of species and do something about it. Do they recall the fate of Adam and Eve? Please cry when children plug into YouTube over a book, do not rejoice over the use of social media for manipulation of the masses. Do not rationalize "free speech" as meaning free child pornography. In the end, the responsibility lies with Republicans who profess great faith, but do too little.
7
Cute, the NYT Ed Board thinks Republicans still have some loyalty to their country left. Haven’t seen much evidence of that. So much for the evidence based journalism that they purport. But go ahead with the wishful thinking, maybe if we all collectively wish hard enough the climate crisis will also disappear. Trump won’t be impeached by the Senate, he’ll win another electoral college victory despite an even bigger loss of the popular vote and America will be even more hated by the rest of world (because let’s face it, now it’s your friends, not just your enemies that hate you). So let’s talk about abrogating responsibility... isn’t the whole point of the second amendment to make sure America doesn’t turn into a tyranny? Sounds like all Americans are ignoring the call of the founding fathers, not just Republicans...
6
Sadly, the sheep will see to it that he's reelected. The Democrats so far don't look like they are putting up anyone who can beat him. They are either damaged goods, not known enough, or too far left.
@Liz Hall Seriously? Too far left? Not known enough? For one example, Pete Buttigieg is doing pretty well for someone who wasn't well known, considering the millions he's been raising. And what exactly is any Democrat proposing that would prompt thinking Americans to vote instead for another four years of the current monstrosity in chief? The man who promised Americans they would be covered for pre-existing conditions and then promptly did his best to try to get rid of that protection? If I lived in the US, I would vote for Elizabeth Warren's pet turtle before I would vote for the unhinged current occupant of the Oval Office.
1
You guys don't get it. We are talking about impeaching and removing a president -- and that possibly weeks before a presidential election. Being tacky is not grounds for removing a president. In a democracy, that is a judgment that should be made by the people.
In any case, there is no crisis other than the one you are trying to manufacture. There simply is no there there, and you don't provide one.
Ukraine officials say they had no knowledge US aid was being withheld until a month after the conversation. The aid was released without Trump obtaining any “dirt” from Ukraine. President Zelenskiy says there was no “pressure” or “blackmail” from the U.S. with regard to an investigation. There are many reasons why aid was withheld -- frustration with allies being one and the longstanding US policy of trying to clean up corruption in the Ukraine being another.
Further, if Trump was asking for an investigation of the Bidens, that seems to be an improvement over the delinquent Obama administration that ignored warnings from a high State Dept. official (we learn today). What if Trump was looking for DNC emails based on a "long debunked conspiracy theory"? Is that worse for the Times' infatuation with the debunked conspiracy theory about Russian collusion?
You huff and you puff about "attempts to enlist foreign interference in American electoral democracy." You have lost me. Please explain to me why the Steele dossier was not a similar interference -- and for partisan ends.
2
@Ian Maitland Being tacky isn't grounds for impeachment, though the "short-fingered vulgarian" (as he was described so memorably by Vanity Fair) would be lucky if being tacky were his worst sin. But holding a vulnerable country hostage and using taxpayer funds to dig up manufactured dirt on his political rival most decidedly is grounds for impeachment. Trying to hide evidence of that call by burying it in a site where it would be unlikely to be seen could also be considered grounds. As could, off the top of my head, deciding to host an international summit at your financially struggling Florida resort, in order to personally enrich your bank account. Emoluments, anyone?
5
So let's cite McCarthyism in order to accuse people we disagree with of being Russian agents? Interesting.
1
@Michael Livingston’s The difference here is that there is actual evidence of Trump and his henchmen working with the Russians, which makes it much more interesting.
4
"I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear."
Have they ridden to political victory any other way?
Southern strategy, welfare queens, Willie Horton, science denial, attacks on Mexicans and Muslims?
In fact, the only time the Republicans run on anything other than fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear is when they run on avarice.
7
Republicans have completely violated oath of office to protect our people and our constitution.
1
The Republicans have been violating their oath of office since Newt Gingrich and the impeachment and harassment of President Clinton.. We just couldn't believe it. They have done anything and everything to win elections. Mitch Mc Connell leads the pack by denying a sitting president his nomination for the Supreme Court. Nothing to see here, it's been done. If they convict him after all that has been done, it won't be their get out of jail card.
I will never vote Republican again in my lifetime.
7
"I believe this...the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one, where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern."
Thomas Jefferson
First Inaugural Address, 1801
3
@g
I guess Jefferson was wrong - he never contemplated an unprincipled, unethical person ascending to the presidency.
1
Sad to say, the majority of Republican politicians prostrate themselves at the feet of their false idol, Donald Trump. They are indeed that “sack of rotten fruit.” Both Republican politicians and their voters are failing the ideals of the Republic and are trampling the Constitution.
4
If Senate Republicans fail to convict Dangerous Donald, they will be judged to be no better than ISIS terrorists. As I have said for a long time, I am far more afraid of Republicans than I am of ISIS. ISIS terrorists surely raise a glass to Republicans every day for not only terrorizing decent Americans but actually doing real damage, perhaps not to infrastructure but surely to people’s psychological state. Any Senator who does not vote to convict and remove must be considered a terrorist and must surely face a reckoning come the 2020 election.
5
There is no GOP past or future, only present. Political parties tend to be generational in the making. The majority of US citizens born after, say 2001, have witnessed the metastasizing of an immoral cult driven by hatred, ignorance and hypocrisy. These are not virtues that people aspire toward. I think that once trump is gone, through impeachment, sickness or votes, the GOP will shrivel and die and need to re-emerge as something entirely new. They have already sold their morals, values and souls to retain the admiration and votes of the most unpatriotic and hate-filled Americans. There is no turning back now.
3
16 months...that was the amount of time that the Republican Party had to shut down Mr. Trump before the 2016 election. At that time, he stood in front of a rally and gave out the telephone number of a sitting US Senator - that would be you, Lindsay. Their only response was nervous laughter, then they tucked their tails between their legs and ran to their corners not wanting to be Mr. Trump’s next target. Now after four plus years of not being punished for his bad behavior, Mr. Trump is more brazen than ever. Today, Senator McConnell had an op-Ed in the Washington Post. Amazingly, I agreed with a lot of it - except for the swipes at Democratic Presidential candidates. Mitch & Company - it’s not to late to put up the guardrails on this President. You need to decide which side of history you want to be on.
BTW - every since I heard the decision to hold the G7 meeting at the Trump Doral, I can’t get “Master of the House” from “ Les Miserables” out of my head.
5
It's not per se short-term party victory that so consumes them it's each individual's re-election.
This has been obvious but journalists know it's a less interesting story, so they have suppressed it but that will end in a week or month and stop asking pols disingenuous questions, like "What will it take senator...........?"
All republicans must go. If they want to continue as a party , they must get rid of trump. It’s their choice.
2
I fervently look forward to the day that the Republican Party goes by way of the Whig Party!
3
The media and the Dems have been screaming crisis since he was elected, so now sound like the boy who cried wolf, yawn. They are the ones in crisis, since it is becoming more clear every day that they may not have a candidate who can actually win in 2020.
1
@Didi
Trumps incompetence as a human, and especially as a leader is being watched by the entire world. Some are going to capitalize on it. They are right now when they see comments like yours. Trump is doing nothing but weakening a once great country.
1
Silence is complicity. Lock 'em up or vote them out.
1
Stalin killed or disappeared millions of 'loyalists' who did not pass the 'purity' test.
Senate Republicans need to take note of this.
The world has never, and will never, produced a benevolent dictator.
It's not about to start now.
4
There is one sure way to put a crimp into that level of blind support in the face of proven wrongdoing by an out of control senator, representative, and even the President, and that is to place criminal penalties on violations of the Oath of Office. Dereliction of duty is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justiceb why is it not a crime for senators and representatives to shirk their sworn duty to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same." 'Protect and defend' are affirmative duties to act against both provable and suspected wrongdoing. Suspicious behavior warrants scrutiny and investigation. Focus on the behavior and be skeptical of the facile explanation.
The second part of the Oath involves the state of mind; oathtakers swear that they they do so voluntarily and without mental reservation or purpose of evasion. That means the oathtaker who has no expectation of following through on that promise, then, or at any point in the future, defrauds the United States by making a false statement. 18 U.S.C. 1001. The duty is both to ACT, and to make that promise truthfully and with integrity.
The oathtaker promises "to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office I am about to enter". That means to do the job, as the statutes and laws require. Tell that to Mitch McConnell.
2
Trump is destroying the Republican Party.
This simple fact actually makes America a better place.
3
The NYT said: "what Republicans once saw as foundational virtues: decency, honesty, responsibility." Are you talking about Colin Powell and George W. Bush lying about weapons of mass destruction to get us into a war that killed and maimed thousands of young Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis? Or about Nixon using the government to squash his political enemies?
6
Lincoln started a war that rightly took out the self-serving lords of the south, but killed how many American kids in the process?
The sooner the vote to impeach and to convict, the better. It’s time to impeach and convict Donald Trump.
2
Since World War 2, America's Republican Party has disgraced itself through its tremendous lies, subterfuge, crimes, and deceit. The goal of expanding the Military Industrial Complex, creating armed conflicts, sabotaging Americans to gain power, wealth, and control at ALL costs has molded the Republican Parry into the cesspool of rot since it has become as of 1952.
The time has cime to destroy the rot and existence on the Party currently controlled by a Crazy President that is destroying American Values, Social Norms, and Fundamental Human Rights.
3
Vote every Republican out of office, from president to senator to dog catcher. Every last one of them.
The only thing that Republicans will understand is complete and utter destruction at the polls.
4
as a democrat, it's sad to come to the realization that 40% of my fellow Americans and their political representatives would prefer to align themselves w/autocrats & despots like Erdogan, Putin, Bolsonaro and Duterte rather than give me any say whatsoever in the future direction of my own country.
9
The ethical demolition of the GOP is a result of several factors:
1. Long overdue exposure of the party as a thinly-veiled white nationalist entity
2. Having the wishes of their donors and the interests of their voters misaligned, resulting in ever-more red meat, us vs. them ideals to be thrown to their base to distract from the fact that the Republicans were acting completely counter to their interest
3. Fox News (enough said)
4. As we are now finding out, in some cases, Russian money flowing to candidates, laundered through Ukrainians or the NRA.
I recall an op-Ed by columnist David Brooks a couple years back, predicting the Republicans had made a Faustian deal with the devil. He was right. And the nasty little thing about a devil: he always comes to collect.
Pay up, Republicans. We Democrats will gladly take your seats.
5
Politicians have a single motive - to get reelected.
The sewer rats are looking at rising waters McConnell has essentially said it's every man/woman for himself. If the pols aren't in deep Trump country they should be worried. Not for the sake of the nation, but for themselves. That's what this country has degenerated to.
Principles, ethics, honesty. Balderdash. As someone said back in the 70's, "Follow The Money
3
When did asking for foreign interference in our elections become improper or inappropriate? I thought it is illegal!!
4
When we view pictures of the misguided crowd at Trump's most recent campaign fund raiser, it tricks the mind into thinking momentum is on his side.
It isn't. Con men always find shills to work the TV crowd.
Having lived thru McCarthy and Nixon, the same gradual erosion of support for those men is evident. Each day, an increasing number of courageous Americans demanded an end to McCarthy's division and impeachment for Nixon's crimes.
Romney finally found his courage and other republicans rapidly followed. As more evidence appears, the trickle will turn into a river and the current will also sweep away Pence, perhaps the most malevolent of the crime syndicate, a man who professes to believe in God but violates his sworn oath.
Her term may be short, but Nancy Pelosi will be our first female president in the next 90 days.
6
When I got to "Thus far in office, Mr. Trump has," this immediately came to mind:
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world..."
5
This...I ask people to look to the Declaration when I think of the imminent impeachment of Trump. Some of it could be taken out verbatim.
1
This editorial sums the current state of affairs while putting it into a historical context. Only critique is that you buried the lead - the enumeration of Trumps misdeeds should have been the first paragraph. People keep overlooking how pervasive Trump’s actions have been that make him unfit for any office, much less as President of the United States of America.
6
Smith’s exhortation, while helpful, did not extinguish McCarthy. It was his own massive failings, along with increasing opposition of the establishment. Today, Trump is the establishment of the Republican Party. There is no one of stature, in either party, to challenge him, particularly at the ballot box. Both parities will stoke their bases, learning from Trump in 2016. And there will be no national consensus to rid ourselves of this pancreatic cancer of a human being, even if he loses. We will remain divided regardless of who wins in 2020 and will remain so - in my opinion - until there is an economic or national security crisis to unite us. With a second term, it becomes more likely that we see one under Trump, of his own making (of course). It may take that to rid ourselves of Trumpism, though I am not optimistic. Indeed, if you think about it, McCarthy’s grotesque brand of politics survived him and has metastasized over time in the Republican Party, with the biggest tumor being the one in the White House.... I am not sure we ever rid ourselves of it.
7
@Southwest 1965 Very good comment.
Fear has been used in politics in the South and other places for hundreds of years. In my view, McCarthyism was just a variation on that theme. Typically, politicians used fear of brown and black people, people of different religions, and so forth. Starting after the communists took over eastern Europe, communism and communists spies in government were favorite topics to scare for political advantage. Homosexuals in government was a similar theme.
There seems to be about 35-40% of the national population that responds to racial/cultural/religious antagonism. But that is higher in some places. In many southern states, racial/cultural/religious antagonism decides many elections.
I think that the republican establishment would love to have a trump with good manners and who was polite and well spoken. Racial antagonism has been used in politics for hundreds of years but politicians are usually smoother and more polished and use code words. They probably like his tax cuts and deregulation but the temper tantrums and rambling incoherently are a turnoff.
Best wishes and stay positive.
2
@Southwest 1965: The "Rapture" Republicans pine for is expectation that God will remove all their skeptics from the Earth.
1
There are over 300 million witnesses to the Republican party's enthusiastic and complete rejection of morality and and decency during this administration. We should have no illusions as to how this is going to play out. Their conclusion will be that collusion, extortion, bribery and corruption are neither immoral nor illegal, and they will vote to acquit. Don't forget that among Republican voters, Trump still has a 90% approval rating. These people care nothing about law nor justice. They do care about their white supremacist president.
We must also not forget that due to gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the election illegitimacy of the Electoral College these people's votes are amplified. We as a country did not elect this monster, a minority of the country did.
If and when the senate acquits, we need to come to a decision as to whether or not to accept this decision. New York and California alone are responsible for 23% of the US economy. A system where our votes are drowned out by the likes of Kentucky and Alabama is not a system we should continue to accept.
24
@Kagetora: Acceptance of gangster rule is thoroughly masochistic.
What truly baffles me is why Senators who, in the dark of night, alone in their thoughts, truly know how evil this President is do not then do the right thing and turn on him. So what if they can’t run for re-election? They all have more than enough money, their instant fame and respect will guarantee a decade of speaking fees and they will go down in history as saviors of our democracy. So why the hell not?
Oh yeah. I forgot. That would require moral courage.
20
When I look at the way the people attending Trump's rallies behave and respond to his nasty, vindictive taunts I see no constituency for a decent Republican in what is now the base of the party. There is a similar situation in the Democratic Party which is split between extreme and moderate segments. It looks to me like the moderates in both parties have more in common with one another.
3
"Donald Trump has hammered away at what Republicans once saw as foundational virtues: decency, honesty, responsibility."
Those virtues were always a veneer; cut the cake; low taxes, no regulations, no government social programs.
Trump's golden hammer just knocked off the frosting.
6
I just keep wondering how any Trump voter can justify the abandonment of people who fought side by side with our own soldiers in Iraq and In Syria.
My only answer is that, as a nation, we stopped fighting with true courage after 9/11. We allow our over-deployed and exhausted volunteer military to carry a burden most sofa warriors are now too weak, too lazy and frankly, not competent enough to handle. Patriotism these days involves standing at football and baseball games while they play the national anthem and cheering at a compulsive liar at his rallies.
No wonder Putin either snickers or smiles these days.
8
@Margot LeRoy—There are Trump branded properties in Turkey. Does that answer your question?
2
Addiction is continuing a behavior despite the knowledge of harmful consequences. Republicans are clearly addicted to Trump. Harm reduction is no longer an option. Only complete abstinence can save the nation.
2
Over the past couple of years Republicans have been defending the indefensible. Now they must defend their defense of the indefensible. It is no longer about justifying Trump, but about justifying their own repeatedly shameful behavior. I hold no hope for them. They are lost human beings, mere shells of humanity—modern day Gollums. The evidence, as depressing as it is, is overwhelming.
8
We can only hope that Trump’s grave mistake In Syria has finally sounded the alarm for the Republicans.
Hopefully, we will not have to wait 4 years for the Republicans to wake up.
1
The Times is wrong. Republicans will not abandon Trump because of their "conscience" relating to protecting the constitution, national security, law and order, etc. They will not abandon him because he is crooked, obstructs justice, brazenly profits by placing the G-7 meeting at his inferior hotel while dozens of better US options exist, etc. The GOP will abandon Trump when he is no longer of political value to them, in short, when people will not vote for them because of their support for him. Thinking there is going to be some kind of transformation to ethical, honorable, and courageous behavior based on Trump's misdeeds is a fantasy given their past behavior of supporting gun manufacturers over people's lives, fossil fuels that threatens the planet, and Barr's anti-democratic behavior while obstructing the Mueller investigation before burying the evidence. All of a sudden the NYT expects such people to have a "conscience?" How idealistic and naïve.
13
" ... there is a long list of politicians who have debased themselves to please Mr. Trump, only to be abandoned by him like a sack of rotten fruit in the end. That’s the way of all autocrats; they eventually turn on everyone save perhaps their own relatives, because no one can live up to their demands for fealty."
And the report ends by stating, that with respect to whether the Republican Party decides that preserving and protecting our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, their sworn duty, takes precedence over protecting the autocrat Trump, "We will soon find out"
The hard cold reality of three years of daily displays by the Republican Party has unequivocally proven that almost every one of these traitors have prostrated themselves before Trump and his un-American plans for America, and the world, and clearly shows that they want what he wants, which is a super-power that rules the planet with an iron fist, tolerating zero dissent, demanding and getting subservience, in other words achieving a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe, which we all recognize as Fascism.
This is the precipice that America is standing on, this Saturday morning in October 2019, and it has occurred because we Americans rested on our laurels, while the never sated powerful considered their final plans.
6
Sadly for them and for the country, the Republican Party has totally lost its way.
2
The republic party has already put themselves in tough position only getting even worse as it is evidenced in their treatment of putting pressure on Obama's presidency periods for 8 years, they have put the party before their own country.
2
All Republicans in Congress care about are their jobs. Nothing else.
2
As long as Republican voters like Donald, Republican legislators will stand with him. It will take a massive blue wave to wash them out.
2
There is a reason DT ran as a Republican: he knew of their hypocrisy and true values. He never would have tried to take over the Democratic Party because there is too much backbone.
3
Inch by inch the tipping point approaches, where even his supporters in the GOP, are going to be looking at their legacies of cowardly acquiescence .
We'll look back on Trump's presidency with amazement that he was allowed to get away with so much illegality and disrespect for the office he holds
2
Trump is the Omega, not the alpha. He is the result of a decades long effort by specific members of the Republican Party to purge reason and principle for absolute fealty. The Republican Party of today is run by wealthy interests such as the Kochs, Waltons, and Adelsons at the behest of legislative obstructionists such as Mitch McConnell, Lyndsey Graham, and the twenty stooges known as the "Freedom Caucus." Trump is simply doing their bidding by creating chaos while corrupt interests pillage the country with no one watching. The Republican Party as it is currently configured will not make a stand on goodness or ethical founding. Let's hope the American people wake up and run these charlatans out in 2020.
10
One possible outcome is a parallel to the plot of the Exorcist. The priest convinces the evil spirit to join him, and then jumps out a window to his death taking the evil spirit with him and destroying the evil spirit in the process. Trump would not intentionally destroy the Republicans, but as they have combined with and protected him, his downfall could destroy them nonetheless.
Congressional Republicans with sense (i.e., not the Tea Party faction) have long known Trump is psychologically and morally unfit yet have cowered in fear at the prospect of electoral retribution by his cult...er, base.
Now they are shocked, shocked to find that the crazy person does crazy things.
It's long past time for them to put patriotism above their political careers. I disagree with Mike Pence on pretty much everything , but I don't think that Trump believes in our system of government and must be removed from office, for the good of the nation.
2
Ironic, isn't it, that the current Republican Senator from Maine is virtually silent as Trump daily tramples on the Constitution.
4
The Republican party sold its soul to the worship of power, white privilege and protecting the wealth at the expense of the other 95% years ago. They just can't hide it anymore. I can only hope that the public in your country finally sees them for who they truly are and throw them out into the wilderness of politics for the next many decades.
4
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I come from a country that was provably overtaken by just such a Russian led conspiracy. Admittedly, this taints my view, but I’m of the belief that key Republican leaders are being blackmailed.
If we know that Putin jacked the DNC server would it be such a leap they hacked other sensitive sites? The behavior of Lindsey Graham and Devin Nunez, as an example, is soninexplicably self-destructive and almost illogical unless you consider that they have something broader to fear. Lindsey Graham, in particular, is an interesting case study. Always partisan, he does have a thirty year track record of somewhat predictable behavior that did not waver much regardless of which party was in power. Now it’s like they’ve recast the part of Lindsey Graham with an altogether new actor....and such a shift literally happened overnight after a visit to Donald Trump. Now I know there are many people who might find Donald Trump persuasive but their IQ levels and educational attainment is generally low. Other people are blatantly self interested but no one of any intellect actually thinks Trump is either stable or a genius. So short of something unsavory, what could have opened up an otherwise savvy guy like Graham to Donalds’s snakelike charms but a blackmail?
....and how else do you explain how the United States, abetted by the GOP, is now literally implementing Soviet foreign policy?
10
@Gwe
I come from Canada and I haven't had the experience of a Russian takeover, but I keep thinking very similar things. Things are not adding up. It seems like people are behaving strangely.
And then a democratic leader drops dead this week, Sanders has a heart attack a few weeks before and the Epstein death is still full of inconsistencies.
It seems like if you are going to be a politician right now you better have a perfect record in life. No one really does, so perhaps some in the Republican party are being black mailed?
In 1950 we didn’t have Fox commentators. Republicans are as afraid of their power as they are of Trump.
2
It is naive to expect anything decent from republicans. They are as in American as they come.
2
If a female president behaved as Trump has just this week, with his incoherent ramblings, his proudly releasing a letter to another country's leader that reads as if a child wrote it, his frantic emotions unchecked, the head of every Republican in the country would explode. And rightly so.
4
One thing just hit me – is there no Republican that want to challenge Trump for 2020? This would be the time to stand up, reject Trump and pretend to love the constitution and claim to bring back the trust for the GOP. Seems like low hanging fruit to me.
@Truthseeker
Bill Weld, former governor of Massachusetts.
Once again I'm going to ask how McConnell will run the Senate trial (and he will) when his wife is Trump's Secretary of Transportation? How is this not a conflict of interest? How can McConnell not recuse himself from running this impeachment proceeding while his wife sits in Trump's cabinet? Why isn't the New York Times raising this issue? It's imperative that the Times raise this issue.
2
Any self respecting Republicans need to quit their party and start a new center-right Conservative party.
This article without a doubt expresses the best that the NYTimes stands for. I am proud to be one of your readers. Above all I stand for freedom of the press: the bulwark of democracy.
The horror that our blessed country has endured these last years at the hands of this despicable president and his weak-willed Senate indeed reminds us of the McCarthy era and I remember that evil
well. We were saved Thanks to the Free Press and the good will of the people.
It is time that Republicans today remember this past evil and stand up for the American way. They should remember McCarthy’s reprehensible behavior. and they should recall that as a result he lies dishonored in an abandoned grave.
His was a suitable end and it will be repeated for any who, like him, don’t stand up now for righteousness and God’s holy will.
4
“Risk” violating their oaths?
They already have! Call a spade a spade for Pete’s sake. The Republican Party has incubated, birthed, and is now nursing a self-dealing autocrat. Republicans created Trump. He is theirs. This is what they want.
Republicans have abandoned the Constitution and rule of law to gain power and money for themselves. There’s probably a word to describe that betrayal....
6
50 years from now, the NYT and others will be writing about the “Margaret Chase Smith” of 2019. The Republican who chose courage over cowardice, risked their seat, and urged their party to remove Trump from office. That Republican will be remembered, like Ms. Smith is today. Who will step up, and take that risk?
1
When the audience of Fox News only believes the lies that are repeated by Trump and his supporters and they make up a majority of Republican voters, nothing that the rest of society says to them will matter to them. These same voters control the Republican primaries thereby controlling Republican office holders who put staying in office above all else. Our political system is corrupted by dishonest media corporations like Fox and Facebook that make millions by promoting lies.
1
The reason most Republicans in Congress won't turn on Trump is very simple. They've taken lots of Russian money funneled through shell corporations and the NRA. They are all in it together...I believe the word used by Paul Ryan was "family." A mob family, I would add.
3
From what I hear, the leaders of the G-7 will be itching to tell their friends about their experience at Trump Doral.
@Didier
And itch they will...
from the bedbugs.
The president is a domestic enemy of the Constitution. Will these people honor their oaths or not?
1
By now it seems apparent that the MAGA crowds are indeed a (pre?) totalitarian movement.
In enabling and allying themselves with Mr Trump the GOP elders thus commit the - according to Arendt - gravest political sin, that is allowing totalitarianism to gather strength.
From here there seem to be two trajectoties: either the Republic prevails - then the GOP shall be out of office for a long time (discredited by their betrayal).
Or Trumpism establishes some form of totalitarian rule in the US. In this nightmarish scenario Messrs Graham, Mc Connel and others could reasonably expect to face the firing squad as totalitarian rulers- once fully established - tend to get rid of the treasonace cowards who enabled them.
However, they don’t care. Or are just not well read?
3
Trump already perjured himself when he put his hand on the bible at the Capitol and swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
He himself was already the enemy from within, while egging on
Russian interference with his infamous phrase: Russia, if you are listening....
2
It's incredible to think that anyone would vote for a Republican candidate after the Trump disaster. We have seen the cost to the country from Trump's incompetence and narcissism -- and yet, here we are, with few members of the GOP choosing to denounce him. And that silence makes it clear that all along, even through Trump's hateful bluster, the party has approved Trump's stance towards immigrants, the environment, guns, funneling money to the rich, his sexual misconduct, smearing of political rivals and journalists, embrace of dictators...and on and on.
If there is a vision for the Republican party, it is to thrust out one's chest and blare empty words about patriotism and law and order, but their sealed lips reveal more about the real agenda at work here.
2
Republicans' commitment to decency, honesty, and responsibility was always a sham. What they got with Trump was what they've always wanted: a green light to drop the charade and openly air their racist, misogynistic, and authoritarian beliefs. If the result of this crisis is the end of the party, good riddance. If it's a Trump regime, God help us.
2
Let me be clear. I loathe Trump and the impact he has had on destroying our government from within.
But I blame Republican Senators and Congressmen for it.
While Trump is being Trump - something that many of us foresaw with clarity in 2016 - the GOP is being spineless, feckless, servile, weak, self-protective and partisan. Trump is breaking democracy; the GOP are fiddling while it all burns.
Impeach Trump. Then recall McConnell. And Graham, and countless others. Clean house.
Vote for people of integrity, regardless of party. It's a wild idea, and it is time.
2
This would be a wonderful appeal to conscience if Republicans had any conscience. But of course they don’t. For years Republicans have sold themselves to corporations, trading the national interests for narrow corporate interests. From there, it was but a small step to selling themselves to a Putin and his stooge. At this late stage of moral decay, Republicans are far, far removed from the possibility being shamed.
2
Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican senator from Maine wrote history in 1950 when she appealed to the conscience of her party amid Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist purge, trampling on democratic values.
Today, Congressional Republicans who still stand by Trump are failing to fulfill their oath of office.
But if you have right-wing talking heads on Fox News et al defending Trump, little wonder that Republicans who still have a sense of moral principles are reluctant to turn the tables on him.
We will only see them fleeing a sinking ship like rats when more and more Americans voice their anger, displeasure or frustration with Trump.
Over half of voters want Trump impeached and removed from office, according to a Fox News Poll released last week.
The number will rise when more damaging revelations emerge.
Republicans must realise that Trump will only get worse. He is totally inept at improving his behaviour in light of ongoing impeachment inquiry. And he thought it was a smart strategy.
As if the current crisis wasn't bad enough for him, he went on demonstrating his disregard for rules and laws by planning to hold next year’s G7 summit at his Doral Resort in Florida.
Republicans must wake up and get real: the longer Trump remains in office the more damage he’ll inflict on the country.
4
I tend to see Republican senators as cowards motivated by career self-interest calculations. They'll bolt as soon as that career self-interest calculation changes, with much faux moralizing. But they will not escape history; they will be tarred with dishonor until the latest generation.
2
For the most part Republicans don't care. They now even lie about their lies.
Twp Republicans have stood up, Mitt Romney and John Kasich and pretty much have said enough is enough. That's it.
How much evidence to they need that their hero, Trump, is basically ruining the country with his lies, his foreign policy he seems to make up on Twitter, ignoring our allies, not to mention his complete immorality.
McConnell, McCarthy give some lip service then go back to bed or wherever they go not to lead.
It is hard to determine what is worse, Trump, who we all know is horrible, or the Republican Party that is turning out to be just as bad.
1
Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of the great state of Maine stuck her neck out and became a hero.
In the autumn of 2019, the Republican senator to make a strong stand against this disgraceful president may well be credited with saving democracy in the USA.
It's hero time, boys.
2
An eidetic moment illustrating the ethical bankruptcy of the Republican Party occurred during Donald Trump's speech Thursday in Dallas. Trump was going through his usual demagogic rhetoric of lies, distortions, attacks on the media, Hillary, and of course Joe Biden. When he began to ritually praise Republican office holders in the audience, Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn acted like a pair of grinning adolescent groupies, at a rock concert, when Trump acknowledged them. Considering the events of the past week, their fawning behavior was dispicable. It was a clear visual metaphor for the spineless sycophancy, and lack of integrity that has infected the Republican Party.
3
Lindsey Graham wrote on Twitter three years ago: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.”
He was right about his party’s future demise though his predicted time frame was off. I have no doubt that the Republican Party will still exist for a while after Trump leaves office. However, it is now the party of old white men clinging to a romanticized past. And every year the number of old white men gets smaller and smaller.
1
Just during the last 7 days, and who knows what's going to happen today (it's 7:45 A.M.), Trump OKed Turkey' invasion of Syria and the decimation of our Kurdish allies, Mulvaney confessed to a quid pro quo in Ukraine and Rudy's role in that "drug deal" got uglier. Two of his accomplices were arrested. Then there was the announcement that Trump's golf Club would host the next G-7. And 45 found time to hold a rally in Dallas.
If that doesn't justify a reckoning, nothing will.
1
Of course they won't. It would require some some atrocious revelation that converts at least half of Republican voters.
Based on the stuff they've put up with so far, it's clear that no such revelation exists.
Trump could worship the devil himself, and they'd shrug.
3
Ah, yes. The Republican Party is in crisis and what of the Democratic Party? Doing just fine, is it?
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
Schism What schism? They are all one just one big happy Party. The Gang of Four... er, The Squad loves Pelosi and all of the establishment Dems. They’ve all signed onto the Green Dream... er, the Green New Deal and are fully behind Bernie’s Socialist Utopia. Right? Or maybe not.
Maybe the Dems’ problems are infinitely more profound than the Republicans and they will be wandering in the electoral wilderness for years, wondering what went wrong.
1
“Surely we Republicans aren’t that desperate for victory?” Margaret Chase Smith’s words echo and resonate today...sadly, they seem to be just that - positively desperate.
Maybe the desperation stems from fear. What did the GOP do in 2016? Was Pete Sessions the only one to take money from the likes of Giuliani’s thugs? Doubtful. If Trump has the goods on them, they must choose between discovery by investigation or Trump spilling the beans.
You make a deal with the devil...and all that.
1
It is particularly galling to watch Rep. Jim Jordan defend Donald Trump day after day, and to watch how disrespectful he is to the Democrats who sit on the committee who are rightfully investigating this president.
Who elects these people? When I was a boy learning about the Civil War I could not understand how Americans could turn on each other and kill over 600,000 of each other, sometimes with brother against brother. I could not understand how we could hate each other enough to fight each other.
I understand now all full well how that could happen. For me, there's 40% of this country that I would not miss if they dropped off the face of the earth, and I am certain that group feels the same way about me.
Our Republic has not been this strained, this tested since 1860. Unfortunately, we need an Abraham Lincoln, and what we have now is Daffy Duck.
4
Trump obviously believes that he got away with his criminal acts outlined in the Mueller report so he feels free to continue those same criminal acts and then some. After getting away with colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 election Trump now does it openly and freely with Ukraine, China and who else that we don’t know about yet.
The fact that Trump has now awarded himself a multi million dollar contract to shore up his failing Doral golf resort shows that Trump now believes he is above the law. Trump also feels free to openly do Putin’s bidding as he did with his murderous betrayal of our allies the Kurds. This monstrous, anti American pretend president must be stopped before he does further irreparable damage to our Republic.
3
Any citizen that voted for Trump, for a reason that only God knows, obviously many of them realized they did a big mistake. But it’s very hard to understand all republicans voters that still thinks about conservatives are the only ones can run this nation. They don’t protect citizens , and don’t care about the big inequality. They don’t care about public education, infrastructure and morals issues. For the simple fact they’re enablers about so many issues that really affect a big percentage of citizens, supporting this president no matter what, I lost totally the respect for each one in public office, and many others. How they can talk about family values if they none.
2
The GOP has a long history of selecting for ideological purity at the expense of competence and/or ethics. The donors don't care about character as long as their employees vote correctly. This checkered history includes such notables as Atwater, Nixon, Gingrich, Palin, Bush43, Cheney and a slew of bit players. But the Trump administration and the present GOP leadership is the first to attempt to achieve 100% compliance.
3
Like most politicians, and would-be politicians, most congressional Republicans are most concerned about getting elected or reelected. I expect the Republican lawmakers to find a way to disapprove of Trump's impeachable offenses without hurting his chances for reelection or their own. Uppermost on their minds is to preserve, protect and defend their hold on power. To paraphrase Tina Turner, they seem to be thinking: What's patriotism, conscience and moral clarity got to do with it?
2
Let's not forget that T was not simply chasing debunked stories in pressuring Ukraine about election interference.
He was actively doing the bidding of a foreign power, against our interests, but in its interest.
He has done this again and again.
This is not a small thing.
12
"Surely they are not so desperate for short-term victory as to tolerate this behavior?"
Spoiler alert: yes, they are.
8
The GOP is a very focused party. It is all about power and obtaining the primary goals of pleasing those powerful donors and getting reelected. Of course enriching yourself generally works nicely in, as an outcome of the first two goals. Until the Republican voters believe Trump should go, they will back him and help reelect him. If voters turn, they will dump Trump faster then Trump has fired anyone.
3
The fundamental bluff of American constitution is called by Trump - three co-equal branches of government. He already declared that Presidency is higher than the Congress and he can ignore the orders of Congress. Only think left is Supreme Court - if he ignores the order of Supreme Court then the bluff is fully called. What is next - who will arbitrate the conflict. Democracy is build on the assumption on the supremacy of constitution as interpreted by the court - if the President does not agree to that principle and his Party supports him, the republic is doomed. We are coming close to that Tripping Point. Next one year will be critical for American republic - if Trump losses the election, healing process may start, if Trump gets second term, the American republic may turn like Germany.
10
At this point there is no point in Democrats acting like there is any kind of standard of behaviour given what the GOP has engaged in the last three years. I say approach Pence and make a deal with him, and get him to remove Trump using the 25th amendment.
2
Two over-riding factors drive our President, ratings and his personal wealth. His decisions are all pointed at making himself and his family richer. And his messaging is that if a tv reality show.
In the interest of ratings there will be a big event at the end of the series. My prediction will be a resignation and promotion of his children in a made for tv succession.
6
At Congress stage, as CNN's anchor Chris Cuomo says, impeachment is a political process. But the same is not the case if the vote comes to Senate.
The fact of concerned civil servants coming forward to Congressional hearings, despite Executive asking them not to do so, injects a non-political component to it, which has to be taken seriously for its legal ramification.
At stake is the core values of how US foreign policy is conducted and how it is perceived particularly by those in formal alliance structure. These trust relationship are founded on law and there is little party political aspect to it.
Even internally the core institutional value of government servants being safely non-partisan is being subject to pressure. Implications to internal governance are also at stake.
1
After all is said and done and Trump is relegated to the dustbin of history, Republican leaders will need to do a lot of soul searching.
That is if they can even find their souls.
5
If McConnell allows a vote to convict (and he's said he would have no choice) all it takes is a super majority of Senators voting, NOT the total number of Senators, to convict.
So fearful Republican Senators could just not show up, voting with their silence, and trump would be gone.
At least I think that's how it could work.
1
“…or will they [the Republicans] take the first step toward separating themselves from him [Trump] and restoring confidence in the rule of law?”
I believe the premise of the question is flawed.
Donald Trump is merely the instrument of the long overdue reckoning on the misdeeds of the Republican Party.
Our streets were flooded with lethal weapons long before Donald Trump came along.
Our economy rewarded the top ten percent long before Trump and it was also tanked by lax regulations supported mainly by Republicans.
Our environment was treated without care or respect mainly due to Republican and industry collusion and an anti-regulatory assault on our precious natural resources.
Donald Trump is not so much the problem as he is the solution.
He is Joe McCarthy on steroids but in this instance he is aimed directly at the Republicans.
America has been afflicted for decades by the Republican Party and Trump is exactly what we needed to begin the process of rooting them out.
Not all of them, just the most pernicious and toxic.
The Republicans are not the victims of Trump, they are his co-conspirators, who, at the 11th hour, are realizing their exposure and are desperately attempting to disentangle themselves from him and his clear-as-day ideology.
Their spin has finally run its length and they have nothing left to say.
6
I think the breath and depth of the Trump base is exaggerated.
I think many would have voted for any Democrat other than Hillary Clinton .
If Trump is removed, there are many Republicans who will just return to their normal entertainment habits : The Price is Right, Gunsmoke and some some Fox News sprinkled in.
For many who voted for him Trump is an amusement whose act has grown stale ( and dangerous for those who didn't ).
Then only way Republicans will turn on Trump is if they pay a heavy political price for supporting him. ALL Americans MUST turn out, in 2020, and overwhelmingly defeat Trump and Republicans in general at the polls.
10
Trump was sadly not the beginning of the turn for the GOP. I date it back to Reagan and the era of greed and deregulation. We are still paying the price.
14
Seems to me that the Republicans would be better served to come up with alternative ways to hold onto the Presidency than by besmirching themselves and the country in service to the child-in-chief. They should pressure him to resign. They should encourage Republican presidential primaries to establish a field of candidates. They need a new candidate to secure a future for the Party - but that means they would have to lead, not follow. By allowing the not-so-stealth takeover of their Party by Trump they have mortgaged its future. It's time - past time - to take it back.
2